Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domain17% of homes tested in McAdam’s area are above the radon guideline
Little of the land around McAdam has burned: 0% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.001% a year. Earthquake risk in McAdam is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.048 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Hazard risk gives McAdam a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about McAdam’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for McAdam: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What McAdam faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
McAdam grades C− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set McAdam’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Little of the land around McAdam has burned: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around McAdam’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.001% of the land around McAdam each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
80% of the land within 5 km of McAdam is forest fuel, close to the 84% 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
Some fire is mapped around McAdam (0.001% a year), but it ranks only 42nd of 61 towns in New Brunswick; Tracadie has 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 takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, McAdam among them, though its rate is above zero; 7.5% 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for McAdam
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for McAdam: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for McAdam on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
93% of towns in New Brunswick have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; McAdam 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for McAdam.
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.”
Expected shaking damage in McAdam: $0.048 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in McAdam, $0.048 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.048, McAdam is above the typical town in New Brunswick ($0.036); St. Stephen has the most at $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.
31% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than McAdam, 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).
The loss is to McAdam’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 McAdam: 17% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Region 3 health region: radon tests
At 17% over the guideline, the area around McAdam beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ordinary for towns in New Brunswick at 17% over 200 Bq/m³ (20% is the median), the area around McAdam had 7.1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: McAdam sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in McAdam can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for McAdam
Alerts for McAdam 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 McAdam 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 McAdam faces
Practical steps for McAdam’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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of McAdam’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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for McAdam without grading them.
- 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 McAdam’s.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around McAdam until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in McAdam
How big is the earthquake risk in McAdam?
In NRCan’s seismic model, McAdam’s buildings lose $0.048 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is McAdam’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives McAdam C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in McAdam?
17% of the 112 homes Health Canada tested around McAdam topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does McAdam flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers McAdam (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is McAdam at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: McAdam’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2024), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).