Photo: Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Bay Roberts is lower than in 94% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Bay Roberts, with 0.7% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.02% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.010 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is lower than usual: 4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Bay Roberts grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Bay Roberts’s hazards
For Bay Roberts, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bay Roberts faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Bay Roberts: A
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Bay Roberts with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #5 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #258 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.
Wildfire is rare near Bay Roberts: 0.7% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Bay Roberts’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Bay Roberts is 0.02%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Bay Roberts’ homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 21 km off.
Forest thickens with distance from Bay Roberts: 72% of the land within 5 km, 80% 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 32
Bay Roberts sits mid-table in Newfoundland and Labrador: 16th of 32 towns, at 0.02% a year, well behind Labrador City (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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Bay Roberts among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
Department of Environment and Climate Change has mapped flooding for Bay Roberts (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Bay Roberts: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Bay Roberts is Department of Environment and Climate Change’s, dated 2012; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shearstown - Bay Roberts | Department of Environment and Climate Change | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Bay Roberts is one of the 59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 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 Bay Roberts’ 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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Bay Roberts just $0.010 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Bay Roberts’ $0.010 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.3 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador: Bay Roberts’ $0.010 against $0.011; Holyrood reaches $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.
Earthquakes cost less around Bay Roberts than in 86% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Bay Roberts is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Bay Roberts are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A lower share than most: 4% of tested homes around Bay Roberts, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority as a whole, not for Bay Roberts alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador has 4% over 200 Bq/m³; Bay Roberts’ 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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Bay Roberts; 63% sit higher.
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 Bay Roberts’ 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 Bay Roberts
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bay Roberts; 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 Bay Roberts, 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)
How Bay Roberts’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bay Roberts | Low | $0.010 | 4% | Yes |
| Spaniard's Bay 2,664 · 3.6 km | Moderate | $0.011 | 4% | Yes |
| Upper Island Cove 1,553 · 8.0 km | Moderate | $0.012 | 4% | Yes |
| Clarke's Beach 1,555 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.010 | 4% | None listed |
| Harbour Grace 2,872 · 11 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 4% | None listed |
| Division No. 1, Subdivision M 1,270 · 15 km | Low | $0.016 | 4% | Yes |
| Carbonear 5,041 · 17 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 4% | Yes |
The heaviest fire record nearby is Carbonear’s, moderate to Bay Roberts’ low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bay Roberts faces
What to do about the hazards Bay Roberts 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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Bay Roberts.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Bay Roberts takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Bay Roberts’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Bay Roberts, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bay Roberts
Does Bay Roberts flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Bay Roberts; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Bay Roberts’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Bay Roberts A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Bay Roberts?
In Health Canada’s survey, 4% of 100 homes tested in Bay Roberts’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Bay Roberts at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.7% of the land within 25 km of Bay Roberts has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bay Roberts?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Bay Roberts $0.010 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).