Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainAround Douglas, 17% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
Wildfire barely registers for Douglas, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk in Douglas sits near the middle: $0.036 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Douglas grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Douglas’s hazards
For Douglas, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Douglas faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Douglas grades C for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Douglas with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #17 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,249 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Douglas has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Douglas’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Douglas fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The 5 km ring around Douglas’ homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 10 km out.
About as much forest grows next to Douglas’ homes (77% within 5 km) as across 25 km (80%).
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
To three decimals the burn rate around Douglas is zero, as for 15 of the 60 towns in New Brunswick, while 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.
Douglas shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB has mapped flooding for Douglas (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Douglas, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB studied flooding in an area that includes Douglas (2020); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| 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
Its flood study puts Douglas with 93% of towns in New Brunswick; Canada’s share is 58%.
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 Douglas.
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 Douglas $0.036 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
1.2 times the typical $0.030: Douglas’ $0.036 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in New Brunswick is $0.036; Douglas, at $0.036, is right beside it, and St. Stephen tops the list at $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.
Douglas’ earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 46% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Douglas 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).
Radon runs high around Douglas: 17% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Douglas’ survey area reads 17% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Douglas shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Region 3 health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Douglas, 17% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town in New Brunswick (20%); 7.1% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Douglas is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are higher.
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.
Whatever Douglas’ area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Douglas
Alerts for Douglas 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Douglas to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Douglas’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douglas | Low | $0.036 | 17% | Yes |
| Bright 3,648 · 13 km | Low | $0.034 | 17% | Yes |
| Fredericton 74,655 · 14 km | Moderate | $0.039 | 17% | Yes |
| Devon 30 1,105 · 14 km | Low | $0.030 | 17% | Yes |
| Starlight Village 5,108 · 17 km | Low | $0.036 | 17% | Yes |
| Kingsclear 3,158 · 18 km | Low | $0.034 | 17% | Yes |
| New Maryland 4,455 · 18 km | Low | $0.043 | 17% | None listed |
Fredericton has the most fire around it, a moderate band against Douglas’ low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Douglas faces
What to do about the hazards Douglas 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 Douglas’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Douglas takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Douglas.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Douglas, 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 Douglas
How is Douglas’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Douglas’ Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Douglas?
Around Douglas, 112 survey homes were tested and 17% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Douglas?
About $0.036 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Douglas.
Does Douglas flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Douglas; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Douglas at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Douglas since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).