Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domain17% of homes tested in Northampton’s area are above the radon guideline
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Northampton, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Northampton as in most places, at $0.039 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Northampton grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Northampton’s hazards
For Northampton, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Northampton faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Northampton: C−
The grade weighs Northampton’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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Northampton: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Northampton’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Northampton’s 0.000% is in the low band.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 22 km from Northampton’s homes, none within 5 km.
The ring nearest Northampton is the most wooded: 81% forest fuel within 5 km against 73% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Northampton is zero, as for 16 of the 61 towns in New Brunswick, while Tracadie reaches 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Northampton is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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 Northampton
Flood studies whose area touches Northampton, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Northampton, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Northampton 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Northampton floods.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Northampton: $0.039 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.
With $0.039 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Northampton is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.3 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Northampton ($0.039) 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.
Middle of the pack: 45% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Northampton.
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 Northampton 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).
Test for radon in Northampton: 17% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Northampton’s area, at 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 Northampton 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: Northampton 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Northampton’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Region 3 health region)
Where to get warnings in Northampton
Alerts for Northampton 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Northampton to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Northampton
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northampton | Low | $0.039 | 17% | None listed |
| Woodstock 6,260 · 7.8 km | Low | $0.038 | 17% | None listed |
| Woodstock 2,371 · 8.0 km | Low | $0.042 | 17% | None listed |
| Wakefield 2,749 · 18 km | Low | $0.045 | 17% | None listed |
| Southampton 1,616 · 18 km | Low | $0.039 | 17% | None listed |
| Richmond 1,516 · 19 km | Low | $0.049 | 17% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Woodstock (low), still no more than Northampton (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Northampton faces
What to do about the hazards Northampton 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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Northampton is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Northampton, 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 Northampton’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 Northampton.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Northampton
Is Northampton at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Northampton has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Northampton?
About $0.039 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Northampton.
How is Northampton’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Northampton’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Northampton flood?
Nothing is listed for Northampton on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Northampton?
In Health Canada’s survey, 17% of 112 homes tested in Northampton’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).