Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center · Public domainOn hazards, Gordon comes out behind 88% of Canadian towns
Around Gordon, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.067 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is higher than usual: 17% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Gordon a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Gordon’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Gordon: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Gordon faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Gordon grades D for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Gordon with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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.
Few fires near Gordon: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Gordon’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Gordon’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Gordon’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 20 km away.
Forest crowds in on Gordon: 77% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 60% 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
Of the 61 towns in New Brunswick, 16 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Gordon among them; Tracadie leads at 0.28% 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Gordon sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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.
No flood study is listed for Gordon
Flood studies whose area touches Gordon, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Gordon; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Gordon has no flood study on file, though 93% of towns in New Brunswick do (Canada: 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 Gordon’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.”
High seismic risk in Gordon: $0.067 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.
At $0.067 per $1,000, Gordon carries roughly 2.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in New Brunswick expects $0.036 a year; Gordon expects $0.067, 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 29% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Gordon.
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 Gordon’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).
Radon runs high around Gordon: 17% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 17% over the guideline, the area around Gordon beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Gordon alone, so this card uses the figure for the Region 3 health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Gordon’s area, at 17%, is close to the median in New Brunswick (20%); 7.1% 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Gordon, 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.
One home in Gordon can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Gordon
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Gordon; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Gordon, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Gordon’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gordon | Low | $0.067 | 17% | None listed |
| Plaster Rock 1,062 · 6.7 km | Low | $0.075 | 17% | None listed |
| Denmark 1,412 · 12 km | Low | $0.049 | 17% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Gordon has the most fire on record (low); Plaster Rock follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Gordon faces
What to do about the hazards Gordon 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Gordon is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Gordon’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Gordon’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Gordon.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Gordon
Is Gordon at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Gordon has burned since 1986, the last in 2013, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Gordon?
In Health Canada’s survey, 17% of 112 homes tested in Gordon’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Gordon?
About $0.067 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Gordon.
Does Gordon flood?
Nothing is listed for Gordon on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Gordon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Gordon’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).