Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Around Richibucto, 20% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
Little of the land around Richibucto has burned: 0.3% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.008% a year. For earthquakes Richibucto is middling, $0.042 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Richibucto grades C− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
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
Richibucto grades C− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Richibucto’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Richibucto: 0.3% 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.
Forty years of fire maps put Richibucto at 0.008% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 21 km from Richibucto’s homes since 1986.
Within 5 km of Richibucto, 57% 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
At 0.008% a year, Richibucto ranks 22nd of the 61 towns in New Brunswick; 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Richibucto stays low, with 92%.
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.
Service New Brunswick - GeoNB studied flooding in an area that includes Richibucto (2020); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| 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 studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Richibucto.
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.
1.4 times the typical $0.030: Richibucto’s $0.042 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in New Brunswick is $0.036; Richibucto, at $0.042, is right beside it, and St. Stephen tops the list 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 sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 43% expect more shaking damage.
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 Richibucto 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).
Radon runs high around Richibucto: 20% of tested homes 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%. Richibucto doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Region 1 health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
3.7% of tests around Richibucto passed 600 Bq/m³; over 200, its 20% matches the median in New Brunswick, 20%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Richibucto among them; 4.6% rank 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.
A low area share in Richibucto doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Richibucto
Alerts for Richibucto 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 Richibucto 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)
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 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.051 | 20% | Yes |
| Saint-Charles 2,189 · 6.5 km | Low | $0.048 | 20% | Yes |
| Saint-Louis de Kent 1,026 · 9.0 km | Low | $0.053 | 20% | Yes |
| Richibucto 2,457 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.042 | 20% | Yes |
| Saint-Louis 1,830 · 12 km | Low | $0.044 | 20% | Yes |
| Richibucto 15 2,126 · 14 km | Low | $0.042 | 20% | Yes |
Richibucto’s low band tops its neighbours; Saint-Louis de Kent is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Richibucto faces
Practical steps for Richibucto’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. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Richibucto’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Richibucto without grading them.
- 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 Richibucto until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Richibucto, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Richibucto
Is radon a problem in Richibucto?
The area’s survey found 20% of 107 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Richibucto.
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.
How is Richibucto’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Richibucto’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Richibucto at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Richibucto’s low band (0.3% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Richibucto flood?
A flood study covers Richibucto on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t 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).