Photo: Not specified · Public domainWildfire low, radon 11%: how Saint James stands on hazards
Wildfire is rare near Saint James: 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.004% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.12 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Saint James a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Saint James’s hazards
For Saint James, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint James faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint James grades C− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Saint James’ seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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 James has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Saint James’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Saint James’ 0.004% is in the low band.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Saint James’ homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 8.7 km away.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Saint James: 90% within 5 km and 88% within 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
In the upper half in New Brunswick but far from Tracadie (0.28%): Saint James ranks 25th of 61, at 0.004% a year.
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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Saint James burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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 Saint James
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint James: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Saint James, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint James 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 Saint James’ 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.”
Shaking is Saint James’ costliest hazard: $0.12 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.12 per $1,000, Saint James carries roughly 3.9 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in New Brunswick: Saint James’ $0.12 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 24% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Saint James.
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 James 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 James: 11% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Region 2 health region
Saint James’ survey area reads 11% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Saint James’ area, at 11%, is below the median in New Brunswick (20%), though 1% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Saint James, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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.
Whatever Saint James’ area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Saint James
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint James; 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 Saint James, 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)
How Saint James’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint James | Low | $0.12 | 11% | None listed |
| Saint David 1,559 · 9.9 km | Low | $0.14 | 11% | Yes |
| Saint Stephen 1,772 · 9.9 km | Low | $0.14 | 11% | Yes |
| St. Stephen 4,876 · 15 km | Low | $0.16 | 11% | Yes |
The fire record around St. Stephen is a touch heavier than Saint James’, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint James faces
What to do about the hazards Saint James 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Saint James’ included.
- 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 James.
- 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 Saint James 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 Saint James sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint James
How is Saint James’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint James grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Saint James at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.2% of the land within 25 km of Saint James has burned since 1986, the last in 2024, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Saint James flood?
Nothing is listed for Saint James on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Saint James?
In Health Canada’s survey, 11% of 101 homes tested in Saint James’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint James?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint James $0.12 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).