Photo: Christopherdunlap · Public domainAround Perth-Andover, 17% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
Fire seldom reaches Perth-Andover: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.001% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Perth-Andover as in most places, at $0.045 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Perth-Andover a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Perth-Andover’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Perth-Andover: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Perth-Andover faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Perth-Andover: C−
Seismic risk and radon set Perth-Andover’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.
Few fires near Perth-Andover: 0.3% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Perth-Andover’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.001% burned a year, Perth-Andover is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Perth-Andover: 49% within 5 km and 47% 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
Perth-Andover ranks 42nd of the 61 towns in New Brunswick for burn rate (0.001% a year), in the lower half; Tracadie leads 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Perth-Andover burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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.
Perth-Andover is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB
Flood studies whose area touches Perth-Andover, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Perth-Andover the inventory points to Service New Brunswick - GeoNB’s 2020 study, whose map is the one to check.
| 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
Perth-Andover is one of the 93% of towns in New Brunswick with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Perth-Andover to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Perth-Andover $0.045 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.
Earthquake losses in Perth-Andover, $0.045 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.045, Perth-Andover 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Perth-Andover.
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 Perth-Andover’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 Perth-Andover: 17% of tested homes 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 Perth-Andover’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 Perth-Andover had 7.1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Perth-Andover is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Perth-Andover 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). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Region 3 health region
Weather and fire alerts for Perth-Andover
Alerts for Perth-Andover 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 Perth-Andover 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 Perth-Andover’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perth-Andover | Low | $0.045 | 17% | Yes |
| Tobique 20 1,042 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.040 | 17% | Yes |
| Perth 1,113 · 5.9 km | Low | $0.043 | 17% | Yes |
Perth-Andover’s low band tops its neighbours; Tobique 20 is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Perth-Andover faces
Practical steps for Perth-Andover’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Perth-Andover’s figure is its subdivision’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 Perth-Andover until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Perth-Andover without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Perth-Andover’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Perth-Andover
Is Perth-Andover at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Perth-Andover’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2013), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Perth-Andover’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Perth-Andover’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Perth-Andover flood?
A flood study covers Perth-Andover on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Perth-Andover?
17% of the 112 homes Health Canada tested around Perth-Andover topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Perth-Andover?
About $0.045 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Perth-Andover.
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).