Photo: WoodstockTourism · CC BY-SA 3.0Radon is Woodstock’s main hazard: 17% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Wildfire barely registers for Woodstock, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Woodstock as in most places, at $0.038 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Woodstock grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Woodstock’s hazards
For Woodstock, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Woodstock faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Woodstock grades C− for hazard risk
For Woodstock, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #20 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,294 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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 Woodstock has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Woodstock’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Woodstock, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest fuel covers 44% of the land close to Woodstock and 70% 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
Tracadie has the highest burn rate in New Brunswick, 0.28% a year; around Woodstock, as around 15 of the 60 towns, it rounds to 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Woodstock is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Woodstock
Flood studies whose area touches Woodstock, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Woodstock on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
93% of towns in New Brunswick have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Woodstock is not yet one of 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 Woodstock.
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.”
Expected shaking damage in Woodstock: $0.038 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.
At $0.038 per $1,000, Woodstock’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.3 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in New Brunswick is $0.036; Woodstock, at $0.038, is right beside it, and St. Stephen tops the list 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Woodstock (45%).
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 Woodstock 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).
17% of homes tested around Woodstock are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Woodstock’s area, at 17%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Region 3 health region, Woodstock included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Woodstock’s area, at 17%, is close to the median in New Brunswick (20%); 7.1% 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Woodstock 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Woodstock’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Woodstock
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Woodstock; 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 Woodstock, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Woodstock
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodstock | Low | $0.038 | 17% | None listed |
| Woodstock 2,371 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.042 | 17% | None listed |
| Northampton 1,981 · 7.8 km | Low | $0.039 | 17% | None listed |
| Wakefield 2,749 · 12 km | Low | $0.045 | 17% | None listed |
| Richmond 1,516 · 14 km | Low | $0.049 | 17% | None listed |
| Hartland 1,025 · 17 km | Low | $0.032 | 17% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Woodstock (low), with Woodstock next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Woodstock faces
Practical steps for Woodstock’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
- 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 Woodstock until then.
- 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 Woodstock.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Woodstock’s included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Woodstock without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Woodstock
How big is the earthquake risk in Woodstock?
About $0.038 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Woodstock.
Does Woodstock flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Woodstock (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Woodstock’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Woodstock C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Woodstock?
17% of the 112 homes Health Canada tested around Woodstock topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Woodstock at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Woodstock’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).