Photo: Dr Wilson · CC BY-SA 3.0Around Edmundston, 29% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Edmundston, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Edmundston is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.049 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Edmundston grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Edmundston’s hazards
For Edmundston, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Edmundston faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Edmundston grades D for hazard risk
The grade weighs Edmundston’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #51 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,481 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 Edmundston has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Edmundston’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Edmundston at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest fuel covers 39% of the land close to Edmundston and 47% across 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
Little or nothing burns around Edmundston in a typical year; 15 of the 60 towns in New Brunswick share that, and Tracadie leads at 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Edmundston is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Edmundston is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB
Flood studies whose area touches Edmundston, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB studied flooding in an area that includes Edmundston (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
Flood maps are common in New Brunswick: 93% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Edmundston is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Edmundston floods.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Edmundston: $0.049 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Earthquake losses in Edmundston, $0.049 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in New Brunswick: Edmundston’s $0.049 against a median of $0.036, with St. Stephen highest 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 31% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Edmundston.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Edmundston.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
29% of homes tested around Edmundston are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Edmundston’s survey area reads 29% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Edmundston shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Region 4 health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Edmundston than in most towns in New Brunswick: 29% over the guideline (20% is typical), 4.7% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Edmundston, and 1.5% sit above it.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Edmundston can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Edmundston
Alerts for Edmundston 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 Edmundston to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Edmundston
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edmundston | Low | $0.049 | 29% | Yes |
| Saint-Jacques 1,763 · 8.1 km | Low | $0.046 | 29% | Yes |
| Saint-Joseph 1,641 · 8.2 km | Low | $0.049 | 29% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Edmundston (low); Saint-Jacques comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Edmundston faces
What to do about the hazards Edmundston 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. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Edmundston’s included.
- 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 Edmundston.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Edmundston takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Edmundston.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Edmundston
Does Edmundston flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Edmundston; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Edmundston?
About $0.049 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Edmundston.
Is radon a problem in Edmundston?
In Health Canada’s survey, 29% of 86 homes tested in Edmundston’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Edmundston at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Edmundston: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How is Edmundston’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Edmundston grades D 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).