Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Around Miramichi, 29% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
The burn rate around Miramichi is 0.06% a year (2.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Earthquake risk in Miramichi is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.041 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Miramichi grades D for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Miramichi’s hazards
For Miramichi, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Miramichi faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Miramichi: D
Two inputs always count for Miramichi, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #46 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,437 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Fire reaches the land around Miramichi: 8.4% within 5 km, 2.4% within 25 km
Past fire around Miramichi’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Miramichi burns at 0.06% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest thickens with distance from Miramichi: 80% of the land within 5 km, 91% 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 60
Miramichi ranks 7th of the 60 towns in New Brunswick for burn rate, at 0.06% a year; Tracadie leads with 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.
Moderate puts Miramichi above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB has mapped flooding for Miramichi (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Miramichi: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB studied flooding in an area that includes Miramichi (2020); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| 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
Flood maps are common in New Brunswick: 93% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Miramichi is among 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 Miramichi.
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 Miramichi: $0.041 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
1.4 times the typical $0.030: Miramichi’s $0.041 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in New Brunswick: Miramichi’s $0.041 sits by the median of $0.036, while 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.
Miramichi sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 43% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Miramichi is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Miramichi: 29% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Miramichi’s area, at 29%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Region 7 health region, Miramichi included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Miramichi (29%) than in the typical town in New Brunswick (20%); 5% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Miramichi is in the 20–30% band, which holds only 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 1.5% are 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Miramichi, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Miramichi
Alerts for Miramichi 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 Miramichi 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)
How Miramichi’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miramichi | Moderate | $0.041 | 29% | Yes |
| Newcastle 1,166 · 13 km | Moderate | $0.044 | 29% | Yes |
Newcastle burns a little more than Miramichi, in the same moderate band (moderate here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Miramichi faces
What to do about the hazards Miramichi 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. 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 Miramichi 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 Miramichi sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Miramichi’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Miramichi, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Miramichi
How big is the earthquake risk in Miramichi?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Miramichi’s buildings lose $0.041 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Miramichi?
Around Miramichi, 200 survey homes were tested and 29% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Miramichi at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2.4% of the land around Miramichi since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Miramichi flood?
Miramichi’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Miramichi’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Miramichi D, 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).