Photo: Scott Worsley · CC BY-SA 3.0High radon around New Maryland: 17% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Little of the land around New Maryland has burned: 0.7% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.03% a year. Seismic risk in New Maryland sits near the middle: $0.043 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. New Maryland grades C− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about New Maryland’s hazards
For New Maryland, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What New Maryland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in New Maryland: C−
Earthquake risk and radon make New Maryland’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #35 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,356 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near New Maryland: 0% within 5 km, 0.7% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where New Maryland’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
New Maryland burns at 0.03% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The 5 km ring around New Maryland’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 21 km out.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around New Maryland: 76% within 5 km and 74% 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
Tracadie burns fastest in New Brunswick at 0.28% a year; New Maryland, at 0.03%, ranks 12th of 60.
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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, New Maryland reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
No flood study is listed for New Maryland
Flood studies whose area touches New Maryland, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on New Maryland, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
New Maryland has no flood study on file, though 93% of towns in New Brunswick do (Canada: 58%).
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 New Maryland’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 New Maryland $0.043 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.
1.4 times the typical $0.030: New Maryland’s $0.043 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around New Maryland ($0.043) 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.
New Maryland’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 36% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 New Maryland 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).
17% of homes tested around New Maryland are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; New Maryland’s area has 17%.
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 New Maryland had 7.1% over 600.
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, New Maryland 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, New Maryland’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Region 3 health region
Where to get warnings in New Maryland
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for New Maryland; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around New Maryland, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around New Maryland
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Maryland | Low | $0.043 | 17% | None listed |
| Starlight Village 5,108 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.036 | 17% | Yes |
| Fredericton 74,655 · 7.6 km | Moderate | $0.039 | 17% | Yes |
| New Maryland 3,198 · 7.7 km | Moderate | $0.046 | 17% | None listed |
| Lincoln 8,093 · 8.6 km | Moderate | $0.048 | 17% | Yes |
| Devon 30 1,105 · 10.0 km | Low | $0.030 | 17% | Yes |
| Maugerville 1,808 · 14 km | Moderate | $0.044 | 17% | Yes |
Next door, Maugerville sits in a moderate fire band; New Maryland is low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what New Maryland faces
Practical steps for New Maryland’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. For New Maryland, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for New Maryland’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for New Maryland.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for New Maryland is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in New Maryland
Does New Maryland flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for New Maryland, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in New Maryland?
About $0.043 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for New Maryland.
Is New Maryland at risk of wildfire?
Some, but New Maryland’s low band (0.7% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in New Maryland?
The area’s survey found 17% of 112 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in New Maryland.
How is New Maryland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
New Maryland grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the 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).