Photo: Patrick Emond (mon conjoint) et moi même (Isabelle Provencher). · Public domainHigh radon around Nigadoo: 40% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Nigadoo: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Nigadoo is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.040 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Nigadoo grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Nigadoo’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Nigadoo: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Nigadoo faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Nigadoo grades D for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Nigadoo with little fire nearby would get no credit for 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 Nigadoo has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Nigadoo’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Nigadoo at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Within 5 km of Nigadoo, 74% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 83%.
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
Near-zero burning puts Nigadoo with 16 of the 61 towns in New Brunswick, far below Tracadie 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 Nigadoo 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.
A flood study covers Nigadoo, from Service New Brunswick - GeoNB: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Nigadoo, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2020 study by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB covers Nigadoo, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| 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
Its flood study puts Nigadoo with 93% of towns in New Brunswick; Canada’s share is 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 Nigadoo’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Ordinary seismic risk in Nigadoo: $0.040 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nigadoo’s $0.040 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.3 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Nigadoo runs at $0.040 a year, near the $0.036 of the typical town in New Brunswick; St. Stephen has $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.
Nigadoo’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 43% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Nigadoo’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).
Radon runs high around Nigadoo: 40% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Region 6 health region
Nigadoo’s area, at 40%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Nigadoo’s area, at 40%, is above the median in New Brunswick (20%), and 17% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nigadoo is in the top band, 30% or more, with just 1.5% of Canada’s towns.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Nigadoo only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Nigadoo
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Nigadoo; 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 Nigadoo, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Nigadoo
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nigadoo | Low | $0.040 | 40% | Yes |
| Beresford 6,543 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.047 | 40% | Yes |
| Beresford 4,389 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.051 | 40% | Yes |
| Petit-Rocher 2,019 · 5.8 km | Low | $0.037 | 40% | Yes |
| Bathurst 4,840 · 13 km | Low | $0.055 | 40% | Yes |
| Bathurst 13,331 · 13 km | Moderate | $0.052 | 40% | Yes |
Next door, Bathurst sits in a moderate fire band; Nigadoo is low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Nigadoo faces
What to do about the hazards Nigadoo 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Nigadoo sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Nigadoo’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. 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 Nigadoo floods.
- 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 Nigadoo’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Nigadoo
Is radon a problem in Nigadoo?
In Health Canada’s survey, 40% of 115 homes tested in Nigadoo’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Nigadoo at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Nigadoo since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Does Nigadoo flood?
Nigadoo’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 Nigadoo’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Nigadoo’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Nigadoo?
Expected earthquake damage in Nigadoo comes to $0.040 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).