Photo: Erj1211 · CC BY-SA 3.0On hazards, Eel River Crossing comes out behind 89% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near Eel River Crossing: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.004% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Eel River Crossing as in most places, at $0.048 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 24% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Eel River Crossing grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Eel River Crossing’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Eel River Crossing: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Eel River Crossing faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Eel River Crossing grades D for hazard risk
For Eel River Crossing, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Eel River Crossing: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Eel River Crossing’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Eel River Crossing burns at 0.004% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Eel River Crossing’s homes came within 11 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest thickens with distance from Eel River Crossing: 54% of the land within 5 km, 61% 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 61
In the upper half in New Brunswick but far from Tracadie (0.28%): Eel River Crossing ranks 25th of 61, at 0.004% a year.
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.
Some fire is mapped around Eel River Crossing, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB has mapped flooding for Eel River Crossing (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Eel River Crossing, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2020 study by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB covers Eel River Crossing, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| 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
Eel River Crossing is one of the 93% of towns in New Brunswick with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Eel River Crossing’s homes are at risk.
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 Eel River Crossing $0.048 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.
At $0.048 per $1,000, Eel River Crossing’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in New Brunswick expects $0.036 a year; Eel River Crossing expects $0.048, and St. Stephen $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.
Eel River Crossing sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 31% 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).
The loss is to Eel River Crossing’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Eel River Crossing: 24% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Region 5 health region: radon tests
Eel River Crossing’s area, at 24%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
4.5% of tests around Eel River Crossing passed 600 Bq/m³; over 200, its 24% matches the median in New Brunswick, 20%.
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 Eel River Crossing, 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.
The survey sampled homes around Eel River Crossing; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Eel River Crossing
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Eel River Crossing; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
For fires near Eel River Crossing, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Eel River Crossing’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
The fire record around Charlo is a touch heavier than Eel River Crossing’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Eel River Crossing faces
Practical steps for Eel River Crossing’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Eel River Crossing’s.
- 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 Eel River Crossing.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Eel River Crossing’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Eel River Crossing takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Eel River Crossing
Is Eel River Crossing at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Eel River Crossing’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Eel River Crossing’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Eel River Crossing D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Eel River Crossing flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Eel River Crossing; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Eel River Crossing?
The area’s survey found 24% of 110 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Eel River Crossing.
How big is the earthquake risk in Eel River Crossing?
About $0.048 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Eel River Crossing.
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).