Photo: Not specified · Public domainRadon is Richmond’s main hazard: 17% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Richmond’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Richmond as in most places, at $0.049 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Richmond a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Richmond’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Richmond: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Richmond faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Richmond: C−
Earthquake risk and radon make Richmond’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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Richmond has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Richmond’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Richmond’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Nothing inside 5 km of Richmond’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 20 km off.
About as much forest grows next to Richmond’s homes (67% within 5 km) as across 25 km (68%).
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
Among the 61 towns in New Brunswick, Tracadie burns fastest (0.28% a year); Richmond is with the 16 near zero.
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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Richmond, burning 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Richmond
Flood studies whose area touches Richmond, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Richmond on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Richmond has no flood study on file, though 93% of towns in New Brunswick do (Canada: 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 Richmond’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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Richmond: $0.049 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.
Earthquake losses in Richmond, $0.049 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in New Brunswick: Richmond’s $0.049 against a median of $0.036, with St. Stephen 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 31% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Richmond.
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).
The model counts damage to Richmond’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
17% of homes tested around Richmond are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Region 3 health region: radon tests
Richmond’s survey area reads 17% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
7.1% of tests around Richmond passed 600 Bq/m³; over 200, its 17% 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, Richmond 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.
The survey sampled homes around Richmond; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Richmond
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Richmond; 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 Richmond come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Richmond
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond | Low | $0.049 | 17% | None listed |
| Woodstock 2,371 · 12 km | Low | $0.042 | 17% | None listed |
| Woodstock 6,260 · 14 km | Low | $0.038 | 17% | None listed |
| Northampton 1,981 · 19 km | Low | $0.039 | 17% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Richmond has the most fire on record (low); Woodstock follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Richmond faces
Practical steps for Richmond’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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; Richmond’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Richmond’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Richmond floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Richmond sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Richmond
Is Richmond at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Richmond’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Richmond flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Richmond, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Richmond?
Expected earthquake damage in Richmond comes to $0.049 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Richmond?
The area’s survey found 17% of 112 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Richmond.
How is Richmond’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Richmond grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).