Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHigh radon around Kent: 17% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
For Kent, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.042 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Kent, near the typical $0.030. Hazard risk gives Kent a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Kent’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kent: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kent faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Kent grades C− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Kent’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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 Kent: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Kent’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Kent burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Kent’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 19 km off.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Kent: 44% within 5 km and 46% 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
Little or nothing burns around Kent in a typical year; 16 of the 61 towns in New Brunswick share that, and Tracadie leads 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Kent 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 Kent
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Kent: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Kent; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Kent has no study, where 93% of towns in New Brunswick have one against 58% nationally.
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 Kent’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 Kent $0.042 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.042 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Kent is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.4 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Kent ($0.042) matches the middle in New Brunswick ($0.036), far from 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Kent (43%).
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 model counts damage to Kent’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
17% of homes tested around Kent are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Region 3 health region: radon tests
At 17% over the guideline, the area around Kent beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
7.1% of tests around Kent passed 600 Bq/m³; over 200, its 17% 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Kent 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.
The survey sampled homes around Kent; 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 Kent
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kent; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Kent come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Kent’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | Low | $0.042 | 17% | None listed |
| Wicklow 1,558 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.043 | 17% | None listed |
| Florenceville-Bristol 1,583 · 12 km | Low | $0.042 | 17% | None listed |
| Peel 1,176 · 17 km | Low | $0.040 | 17% | None listed |
| Perth 1,113 · 18 km | Low | $0.043 | 17% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Kent (low), with Wicklow next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kent faces
What to do about the hazards Kent 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Kent’s figure is its subdivision’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 Kent.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Kent takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Kent’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kent
Does Kent flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Kent’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Kent at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Kent since 1986 (last in 2013); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kent?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Kent’s buildings lose $0.042 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Kent?
Around Kent, 112 survey homes were tested and 17% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Kent’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kent 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).