Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9674922@N04/ Lucia · CC0Hazard risk in Baie Verte is lower than in 95% of Canadian towns
The burn rate around Baie Verte is 0.10% a year (3.9% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.007 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Baie Verte’s survey area, 5% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Baie Verte grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Baie Verte’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Baie Verte: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Baie Verte faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Baie Verte: A+
The grade weighs Baie Verte’s 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
A moderate wildfire record for Baie Verte: 3.9% within 25 km burned, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Baie Verte’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Baie Verte is 0.10%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
Fire has stayed at least 6.6 km from Baie Verte’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Baie Verte: 81% within 5 km, 79% 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
In the top quarter in Newfoundland and Labrador: Baie Verte ranks 8th of 33 at 0.10% a year, with Labrador City first 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Baie Verte, and 2.1% sit 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 Baie Verte
Flood studies whose area touches Baie Verte, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Baie Verte on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Baie Verte has no flood study on file, though 59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador do (Canada: 58%).
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 Baie Verte’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.”
Little shaking expected in Baie Verte: $0.007 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.
Baie Verte’s $0.007 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.007, Baie Verte is below the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador ($0.011); Holyrood is highest at $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.
88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Baie Verte.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Baie Verte’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Baie Verte: 5% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Baie Verte reads 5%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Central Regional Integrated Health Authority, Baie Verte included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Baie Verte’s area, at 5%, is above the median in Newfoundland and Labrador (4%), and 2% 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Baie Verte’s 5–10% 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.
One home in Baie Verte can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Baie Verte
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Baie Verte; 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 Baie Verte come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Baie Verte faces
What to do about the hazards Baie Verte faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- 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 Baie Verte until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Baie Verte without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Baie Verte’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Baie Verte’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Baie Verte
How is Baie Verte’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Baie Verte grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Baie Verte?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of 201 homes tested in Baie Verte’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Baie Verte at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 3.9% of the land within 25 km of Baie Verte has burned since 1986, the last in 1999, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Baie Verte flood?
Nothing is listed for Baie Verte on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Baie Verte?
Expected earthquake damage in Baie Verte comes to $0.007 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).