Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center · Public domainHazards in Havelock: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 11% of tested homes
Burn scars are few around Havelock, with 1.8% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.05% a year). For earthquakes Havelock is middling, $0.031 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Havelock a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Havelock’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Havelock: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Havelock faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Havelock grades C+ for hazard risk
For Havelock, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Havelock: 0.4% within 5 km, 1.8% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Havelock’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.05% of the land near Havelock burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
There is forest near Havelock’s homes (65% within 5 km) and more of it further out (78% 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 top quarter in New Brunswick: Havelock ranks 11th of 61 at 0.05% a year, with Tracadie first 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.
Havelock is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Havelock
Flood studies whose area touches Havelock, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Havelock on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
93% of towns in New Brunswick have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Havelock is not yet one of them.
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 Havelock’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Havelock $0.031 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.
Havelock’s $0.031 matches the typical town’s $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in New Brunswick: Havelock’s $0.031 against $0.036; St. Stephen reaches $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.
Havelock sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 48% expect more shaking damage.
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 Havelock’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).
Test for radon in Havelock: 11% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Havelock’s survey area reads 11% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Havelock (11%) than in the typical town in New Brunswick (20%), yet 1% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Havelock, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Havelock as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Region 2 health region
Weather and fire alerts for Havelock
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Havelock; 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 Havelock, 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 Havelock’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Havelock | Low | $0.031 | 11% | None listed |
| Salisbury 3,806 · 15 km | Low | $0.030 | 20% | Yes |
| Petitcodiac 1,610 · 17 km | Low | $0.026 | 20% | None listed |
Salisbury (low) has the heaviest fire record of Havelock’s neighbours, and Havelock (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Havelock faces
Practical steps for Havelock’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Havelock floods.
- 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 Havelock sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Havelock’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Havelock’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Havelock
How is Havelock’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Havelock’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Havelock?
About $0.031 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Havelock.
Is Havelock at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Havelock’s low band (1.8% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2013) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Havelock?
The area’s survey found 11% of 101 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Havelock.
Does Havelock flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Havelock, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).