Photo: Verne Equinox at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.020% of homes tested in Coverdale’s area are above the radon guideline
Fire seldom reaches Coverdale: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.002% a year). Seismic risk in Coverdale sits near the middle: $0.031 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Coverdale a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Coverdale’s hazards
For Coverdale, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Coverdale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Coverdale: C−
Two inputs always count for Coverdale, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #21 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,303 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Coverdale has burned: 0.2% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Coverdale’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.002% of the land around Coverdale each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
75% of the land within 5 km of Coverdale is forest fuel, close to the 71% within 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in New Brunswick · highest of 60
Coverdale burns at 0.002% a year, 30th of 60 towns in New Brunswick; the leader, Tracadie, reaches 0.28%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Coverdale among them, though its rate is above zero; 7.5% rank higher.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
Coverdale is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Coverdale: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB holds the flood mapping that covers Coverdale (2020), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inland Flood Mapping in New Brunswick and Updated Sea-Level Rise and Flooding Estimates for New Brunswick Coastal Sections 2020 | Service New Brunswick - GeoNB | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
93% of towns in New Brunswick have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Coverdale has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Coverdale.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Coverdale $0.031 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.031 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Coverdale sits right at the typical $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Coverdale runs at $0.031 a year, near the $0.036 of the typical town in New Brunswick; St. Stephen has $0.16.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Coverdale (48%).
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
For Coverdale the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Coverdale: 20% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Region 1 health region: radon tests
More homes than usual test high around Coverdale: 20% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ordinary for towns in New Brunswick at 20% over 200 Bq/m³ (20% is the median), the area around Coverdale had 3.7% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Coverdale, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
Radon varies from house to house in Coverdale, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Coverdale
Alerts for Coverdale come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Fire danger and active fires near Coverdale are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Coverdale’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coverdale | Low | $0.031 | 20% | Yes |
| Riverview 22,614 · 7.0 km | Low | $0.031 | 20% | Yes |
| Hillsborough 1,569 · 11 km | Low | $0.022 | 20% | Yes |
| Dieppe 35,986 · 12 km | Low | $0.033 | 20% | Yes |
| Moncton 102,378 · 13 km | Low | $0.040 | 20% | Yes |
| Hillsborough 1,414 · 13 km | Low | $0.022 | 20% | Yes |
| Memramcook 5,616 · 19 km | Low | $0.021 | 20% | Yes |
Riverview burns a little more than Coverdale, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Coverdale faces
What to do about the hazards Coverdale faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Coverdale’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Coverdale sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Coverdale floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Coverdale, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Coverdale
Does Coverdale flood?
Coverdale’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in Coverdale?
Around Coverdale, 107 survey homes were tested and 20% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Coverdale?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Coverdale $0.031 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Coverdale at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Coverdale since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Coverdale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Coverdale grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).