Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Arnold's Cove is lower than in 96% of Canadian towns
For Arnold's Cove, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.009 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Arnold's Cove a grade of A+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Arnold's Cove’s hazards
For Arnold's Cove, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Arnold's Cove faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Arnold's Cove: A+
Earthquake risk and radon make Arnold's Cove’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Arnold's Cove: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Arnold's Cove’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Arnold's Cove in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Forest fuel is denser close to Arnold's Cove (75% within 5 km) than further out (68% 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 Newfoundland and Labrador · highest of 33
Near-zero burning puts Arnold's Cove with 8 of the 33 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador, far below Labrador City at 0.43%.
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 Arnold's Cove, 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Arnold's Cove
Flood studies whose area touches Arnold's Cove, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Arnold's Cove on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Newfoundland and Labrador reaches 59% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Arnold's Cove.
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 Arnold's Cove’s 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.”
Low seismic risk in Arnold's Cove: $0.009 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Arnold's Cove it is only $0.009, 0.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Arnold's Cove runs at $0.009 a year, near the $0.011 of the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador; Holyrood has $0.015.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 86% of its 2,611 towns sit above Arnold's Cove.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Arnold's Cove.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
4% of homes tested around Arnold's Cove are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Arnold's Cove’s survey area reads 4% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Arnold's Cove shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador has 4% over 200 Bq/m³; Arnold's Cove’s area has 4%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Arnold's Cove’s band, which holds 37%.
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 Arnold's Cove’s 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 Arnold's Cove
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Arnold's Cove; 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 Arnold's Cove, 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)
Get ready for what Arnold's Cove faces
Practical steps for Arnold's Cove’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
- 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 Arnold's Cove 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 Arnold's Cove sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Arnold's Cove, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Arnold's Cove’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Arnold's Cove
Is radon a problem in Arnold's Cove?
The area’s survey found 4% of 100 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Arnold's Cove.
How big is the earthquake risk in Arnold's Cove?
Expected earthquake damage in Arnold's Cove comes to $0.009 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Arnold's Cove flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Arnold's Cove, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Arnold's Cove at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Arnold's Cove’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Arnold's Cove’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Arnold's Cove A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).