Photo: David Wilson · CC BY 2.0High radon around Petit-Rocher: 40% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Fire has left almost no mark near Petit-Rocher: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.037 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Petit-Rocher, near the typical $0.030. Hazard risk gives Petit-Rocher a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Petit-Rocher’s hazards
For Petit-Rocher, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Petit-Rocher faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Petit-Rocher: D
Two inputs always count for Petit-Rocher, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Petit-Rocher: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Petit-Rocher’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Petit-Rocher burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Within 5 km of Petit-Rocher, 77% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 82%.
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
Little or nothing burns around Petit-Rocher in a typical year; 16 of the 61 towns in New Brunswick share that, and 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Petit-Rocher is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
A flood study covers Petit-Rocher, from Service New Brunswick - GeoNB: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Petit-Rocher, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Petit-Rocher, Service New Brunswick - GeoNB’s from 2020, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| 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 Petit-Rocher is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Petit-Rocher’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Petit-Rocher $0.037 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.
At $0.037 per $1,000, Petit-Rocher’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.2 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in New Brunswick: Petit-Rocher’s $0.037 against $0.036; 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Petit-Rocher (45%).
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 Petit-Rocher 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 Petit-Rocher: 40% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A higher share than most: 40% of tested homes around Petit-Rocher, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Region 6 health region as a whole, not for Petit-Rocher alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Petit-Rocher, 40% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 17% over 600, against a median of 20% in New Brunswick.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
No band is higher: Petit-Rocher is among the 1.5% of Canada’s towns with 30% or more of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Petit-Rocher can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Petit-Rocher
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Petit-Rocher; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Petit-Rocher come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Petit-Rocher’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
Fire is heaviest around Bathurst (moderate), against low for Petit-Rocher.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Petit-Rocher faces
What to do about the hazards Petit-Rocher 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Petit-Rocher.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Petit-Rocher takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Petit-Rocher.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Petit-Rocher’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Petit-Rocher
Is Petit-Rocher at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Petit-Rocher (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
Is radon a problem in Petit-Rocher?
Around Petit-Rocher, 115 survey homes were tested and 40% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Petit-Rocher’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Petit-Rocher grades D for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Petit-Rocher flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Petit-Rocher; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Petit-Rocher?
About $0.037 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Petit-Rocher.
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).