Photo: Not specified · Public domainHigh radon around Richibucto: 20% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Richibucto’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Richibucto is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.042 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Richibucto grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Richibucto’s hazards
For Richibucto, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Richibucto faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Richibucto: C−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Richibucto with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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 Richibucto: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Richibucto’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Richibucto is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Richibucto’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 17 km away.
Forest fuel covers 75% of the land close to Richibucto and 82% across 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
Little or nothing burns around Richibucto 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Richibucto is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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 Richibucto, from Service New Brunswick - GeoNB: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Richibucto: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Richibucto is Service New Brunswick - GeoNB’s, dated 2020; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| 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 Richibucto 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Richibucto’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 Richibucto $0.042 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Richibucto, $0.042 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.4 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Richibucto’s $0.042 is close to the median in New Brunswick, $0.036; St. Stephen is highest 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.
Richibucto’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).
For Richibucto the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Richibucto: 20% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Richibucto’s area, at 20%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Richibucto, 20% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town in New Brunswick (20%); 3.7% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Richibucto 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Richibucto, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Region 1 health region
Where to get warnings in Richibucto
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Richibucto; 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. |
For fires near Richibucto, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Richibucto
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richibucto | Low | $0.042 | 20% | Yes |
| Rexton 1,059 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.051 | 20% | Yes |
| Richibucto 1,745 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.042 | 20% | Yes |
| Wellington 3,458 · 15 km | Low | $0.038 | 20% | Yes |
| Saint-Charles 2,189 · 15 km | Low | $0.048 | 20% | Yes |
| Richibucto 15 2,126 · 16 km | Low | $0.042 | 20% | Yes |
| Bouctouche 2,678 · 18 km | Low | $0.039 | 20% | Yes |
Richibucto burns a little more than Richibucto, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Richibucto faces
What to do about the hazards Richibucto 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. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Richibucto.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Richibucto’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Richibucto is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Richibucto.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Richibucto
How is Richibucto’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Richibucto grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Richibucto?
Around Richibucto, 107 survey homes were tested and 20% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Richibucto?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Richibucto $0.042 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Richibucto at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Richibucto since 1986 (last in 1992); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Richibucto flood?
There is flood mapping for Richibucto on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).