Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domain29% of homes tested in Glenelg’s area are above the radon guideline
Fire reaches the land around Glenelg now and then: 2.9% within 25 km since 1986 (0.07% a year), below the high band. Earthquake risk in Glenelg 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. Glenelg grades D for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Glenelg’s hazards
For Glenelg, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Glenelg faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Glenelg: D
Two inputs always count for Glenelg, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Some fire around Glenelg: 2.9% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Glenelg’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Glenelg burns at 0.07% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Glenelg’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 5.3 km away.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Glenelg: 92% within 5 km and 87% 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
The land around Glenelg burns at 0.07% a year, the 7th highest rate of 61 towns in New Brunswick; Tracadie tops it 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.
Moderate puts Glenelg above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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 Glenelg (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Glenelg, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB studied flooding in an area that includes Glenelg (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
Mapping in New Brunswick reaches 93% of towns, Glenelg included, beside 58% across Canada.
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 Glenelg.
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 Glenelg $0.049 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.
Nothing unusual about Glenelg’s ground: $0.049 against a typical $0.030, 1.6 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in New Brunswick peaks in St. Stephen ($0.16); Glenelg, at $0.049, sits above the median of $0.036.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
31% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Glenelg, which places it in the upper third.
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 Glenelg.
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 Glenelg: 29% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Region 7 health region
At 29% over the guideline, the area around Glenelg beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Glenelg’s area, at 29%, is above the median in New Brunswick (20%), and 5% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Glenelg is in the 20–30% band, which holds only 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 1.5% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Glenelg, 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 Glenelg
Alerts for Glenelg 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 Glenelg 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)
Get ready for what Glenelg faces
What to do about the hazards Glenelg faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Glenelg sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Glenelg’s included.
- 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 Glenelg.
- 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 Glenelg floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Glenelg
Is Glenelg at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 2.9% of the land within 25 km of Glenelg has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Glenelg’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Glenelg’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Glenelg?
In Health Canada’s survey, 29% of 200 homes tested in Glenelg’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Glenelg?
About $0.049 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Glenelg.
Does Glenelg flood?
Glenelg’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).