Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Radon is Shediac’s main hazard: 20% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Wildfire isn’t Shediac’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.001% a year). For earthquakes Shediac is middling, $0.032 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Shediac a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Shediac’s hazards
For Shediac, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Shediac faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Shediac: C−
The grade weighs Shediac’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #24 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,312 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around Shediac has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Shediac’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Shediac fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The 5 km ring around Shediac’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 15 km out.
Forest fuel covers 52% of the land close to Shediac and 65% 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 60
Some fire is mapped around Shediac (0.001% a year), but it ranks only 42nd of 60 towns in New Brunswick; Tracadie has 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Shediac 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.
Shediac is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Shediac: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2020 study by Service New Brunswick - GeoNB covers Shediac, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| 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
93% of towns in New Brunswick have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Shediac has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Shediac’s homes are at risk.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Shediac: $0.032 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Shediac, $0.032 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.1 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in New Brunswick: Shediac’s $0.032 against $0.036; St. Stephen reaches $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.
Middle of the pack: 48% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Shediac.
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 Shediac 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).
20% of homes tested around Shediac are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Shediac’s area, at 20%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Shediac’s area, at 20%, is close to the median in New Brunswick (20%); 3.7% 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Shediac, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Shediac’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Region 1 health region, not by town
Where to get warnings in Shediac
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Shediac; 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 Shediac 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 Shediac
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shediac | Low | $0.032 | 20% | Yes |
| Shediac 5,699 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.036 | 20% | Yes |
| Dundas 4,733 · 12 km | Low | $0.033 | 20% | Yes |
| Beaubassin East / Beaubassin-est 8,138 · 15 km | Low | $0.034 | 20% | Yes |
| Cocagne 2,982 · 18 km | Low | $0.035 | 20% | Yes |
Shediac burns a little more than Shediac, 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 Shediac faces
What to do about the hazards Shediac 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 Shediac.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Shediac is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Shediac’s 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 Shediac.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Shediac
Does Shediac flood?
There is flood mapping for Shediac on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Shediac’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Shediac grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Shediac?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Shediac’s buildings lose $0.032 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Shediac?
Around Shediac, 107 survey homes were tested and 20% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Shediac at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Shediac since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).