Flood mapping exists for Greenwich: 1 on record, latest by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB
The burn rate around Greenwich is 0.07% a year (1.8% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Earthquake risk in Greenwich is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.027 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 11% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Greenwich grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Greenwich’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Greenwich: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Greenwich faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Greenwich grades C+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Greenwich, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
A moderate wildfire record for Greenwich: 1.8% within 25 km burned, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Greenwich’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Greenwich is 0.07%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Greenwich’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 11 km away.
82% of the land within 5 km of Greenwich is forest fuel, close to the 80% 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 Greenwich 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.
Greenwich is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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.
A flood study covers Greenwich, from Service New Brunswick - GeoNB: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Greenwich: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Greenwich the inventory points to Service New Brunswick - GeoNB’s 2020 study, whose map is the one to check.
| 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
Greenwich 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Greenwich 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 Greenwich: $0.027 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Greenwich’s ground: $0.027 against a typical $0.030, 0.9 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Greenwich’s $0.027 sits under the median in New Brunswick, $0.036, and well under St. Stephen’s $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.
Middle of the pack: 53% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Greenwich.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Greenwich’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 Greenwich: 11% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Region 2 health region
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Greenwich’s area, at 11%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Below the typical town in New Brunswick (20%) at 11%, the area around Greenwich still had 1% of tests over 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Greenwich among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Greenwich only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Greenwich
Alerts for Greenwich 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. |
Evacuation orders for Greenwich come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Greenwich’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwich | Moderate | $0.027 | 11% | Yes |
| Westfield 2,245 · 11 km | Moderate | $0.031 | 11% | Yes |
| Kingston 3,577 · 11 km | Low | $0.029 | 11% | Yes |
| Quispamsis 20,240 · 16 km | Low | $0.031 | 11% | Yes |
| Grand Bay-Westfield 5,202 · 17 km | Low | $0.031 | 11% | Yes |
| Rothesay 12,626 · 17 km | Low | $0.033 | 11% | Yes |
The fire record around Westfield is a touch heavier than Greenwich’s, but the band is the same: moderate (here moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Greenwich faces
What to do about the hazards Greenwich 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
- 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 Greenwich.
- 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 Greenwich’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Greenwich takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Greenwich’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Greenwich
How big is the earthquake risk in Greenwich?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Greenwich’s buildings lose $0.027 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Greenwich at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 1.8% of the land around Greenwich since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Greenwich flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Greenwich; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Greenwich?
Around Greenwich, 101 survey homes were tested and 11% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Greenwich’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Greenwich C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).