Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHigh radon around Westmorland: 20% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Fire seldom reaches Westmorland: since 1986, 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.004% a year). Seismic risk in Westmorland sits near the middle: $0.034 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Westmorland a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Westmorland’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Westmorland: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Westmorland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Westmorland grades C− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Westmorland, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Westmorland has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Westmorland’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Westmorland burns at 0.004% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Forest thickens with distance from Westmorland: 47% of the land within 5 km, 63% 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
Westmorland burns at 0.004% a year, 25th of 61 towns in New Brunswick; the leader, Tracadie, reaches 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Westmorland reads low, with 92% of them; only 7.5% rank higher.
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.
Flooding around Westmorland is mapped in 5 studies, the newest by Province of Nova Scotia
Flood studies whose area touches Westmorland, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Westmorland the inventory points to 5 studies, most recently Province of Nova Scotia’s in 2025.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northumberland Shore Region | Province of Nova Scotia | 2025 | final · not public |
| Northumberland Region | Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs | 2025 | under review · not public |
| Upper Bay of Fundy Flood Mapping Area | Province of Nova Scotia | 2024 | final · not public |
| 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 |
| Fundy Agricultural Marshlands Flood Maps | Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Saint Mary’s University | 2018 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in New Brunswick reaches 93% of towns, Westmorland included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Mapping around Westmorland goes back to the 2010s and peaks in the 2020s, with 4 of its 5 studies.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Westmorland.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Westmorland.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Westmorland: $0.034 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
1.1 times the typical $0.030: Westmorland’s $0.034 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Westmorland runs at $0.034 a year, near the $0.036 of the typical town in New Brunswick; St. Stephen has $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.
Westmorland sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 46% 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).
The model counts damage to Westmorland’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).
Radon runs high around Westmorland: 20% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Region 1 health region
A higher share than most: 20% of tested homes around Westmorland, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
3.7% of tests around Westmorland 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, Westmorland 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Westmorland only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Westmorland
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Westmorland; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Westmorland, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Westmorland’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westmorland | Low | $0.034 | 20% | Yes |
| Cumberland County, Subdivision C 6,040 · 19 km | Low | $0.026 | 13% | Yes |
| Botsford 1,240 · 19 km | Low | $0.034 | 20% | Yes |
Westmorland’s low band tops its neighbours; Cumberland County, Subdivision C is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Westmorland faces
What to do about the hazards Westmorland 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Westmorland’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Westmorland.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Westmorland’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Westmorland takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Westmorland
Is radon a problem in Westmorland?
Around Westmorland, 107 survey homes were tested and 20% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Westmorland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Westmorland C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Westmorland flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Westmorland; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Westmorland?
Expected earthquake damage in Westmorland comes to $0.034 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Westmorland at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Westmorland since 1986 (last in 2018); 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).