Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainRadon is Saint-Jacques’ main hazard: 29% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Wildfire isn’t Saint-Jacques’ worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Saint-Jacques as in most places, at $0.046 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Saint-Jacques grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Jacques’s hazards
For Saint-Jacques, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Jacques faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Jacques grades D for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Saint-Jacques with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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.
Little of the land around Saint-Jacques has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Saint-Jacques’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Saint-Jacques at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
About as much forest grows next to Saint-Jacques’ homes (41% within 5 km) as across 25 km (45%).
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
Near-zero burning puts Saint-Jacques with 16 of the 61 towns in New Brunswick, far below Tracadie 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Saint-Jacques, 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.
Saint-Jacques is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Jacques: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Saint-Jacques 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
Flood maps are common in New Brunswick: 93% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Saint-Jacques is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Saint-Jacques.
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 Saint-Jacques $0.046 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.046 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Saint-Jacques is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in New Brunswick: Saint-Jacques’ $0.046 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 Saint-Jacques.
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 Saint-Jacques 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).
Radon runs high around Saint-Jacques: 29% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Saint-Jacques’ area has 29%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Region 4 health region as a whole, not for Saint-Jacques alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Saint-Jacques than in most towns in New Brunswick: 29% over the guideline (20% is typical), 4.7% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Saint-Jacques, and 1.5% sit above it.
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 Saint-Jacques 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 Saint-Jacques
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Jacques; 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 Saint-Jacques 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 Saint-Jacques
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Jacques | Low | $0.046 | 29% | Yes |
| Saint-Joseph 1,641 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.049 | 29% | Yes |
| Edmundston 18,174 · 8.1 km | Low | $0.049 | 29% | Yes |
Saint-Jacques’ low band tops its neighbours; Saint-Joseph is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Jacques faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Jacques 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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Saint-Jacques without grading them.
- 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 Saint-Jacques.
- 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 Saint-Jacques until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Saint-Jacques’ included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Jacques
Does Saint-Jacques flood?
A flood study covers Saint-Jacques 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 Saint-Jacques?
In Health Canada’s survey, 29% of 86 homes tested in Saint-Jacques’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Saint-Jacques at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Saint-Jacques’ band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Saint-Jacques’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Saint-Jacques D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Jacques?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Jacques $0.046 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).