Photo: Quincylvania · CC0Hazard risk in Bishop's Falls is higher than in 95% of Canadian towns
With 0.28% of the land around it burning each year, Bishop's Falls sits in the high wildfire band (11% within 25 km since 1986). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.010 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Bishop's Falls is ordinary for Canada: 5% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Bishop's Falls grades D for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Bishop's Falls’s hazards
For Bishop's Falls, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bishop's Falls faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Bishop's Falls: D
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Bishop's Falls with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #2,540 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.
Fire country: 11% of the land within 25 km of Bishop's Falls has burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Bishop's Falls’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.28% of the land a year, Bishop's Falls’ burn rate is high, many times the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 5.2 km from Bishop's Falls’ homes, none within 5 km.
More forest grows near Bishop's Falls’ homes (84% within 5 km) than across 25 km (77%).
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
Bishop's Falls ranks 2nd of the 32 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador for burn rate, at 0.28% a year; Labrador City leads with 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.
Just 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough for the high band where Bishop's Falls sits; 0.2% burn faster.
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.
Bishop's Falls is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Department of Environment and Climate Change
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Bishop's Falls: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Bishop's Falls the inventory points to Department of Environment and Climate Change’s 2021 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exploits River Communities | Department of Environment and Climate Change | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Newfoundland and Labrador: 59% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Bishop's Falls is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Bishop's Falls floods.
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.
Little shaking expected in Bishop's Falls: $0.010 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Bishop's Falls’ $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
Typical for its province: Bishop's Falls at $0.010 beside a median in Newfoundland and Labrador of $0.011, with Holyrood on top 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.
Bishop's Falls is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 86% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Bishop's Falls 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).
5% of homes tested around Bishop's Falls are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Central Regional Integrated Health Authority: radon tests
The survey area of Bishop's Falls reads 5%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Bishop's Falls (5%) than in the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador (4%); 2% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Bishop's Falls is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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 Bishop's Falls’ 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 Bishop's Falls
Alerts for Bishop's Falls come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Bishop's Falls to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Bishop's Falls
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop's Falls | High | $0.010 | 5% | Yes |
| Grand Falls-Windsor 14,510 · 14 km | High | $0.012 | 5% | Yes |
| Botwood 2,884 · 17 km | Moderate | $0.009 | 5% | None listed |
Nowhere around Bishop's Falls burns more: Grand Falls-Windsor, the closest rival, is high to its high.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bishop's Falls faces
What to do about the hazards Bishop's Falls 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Bishop's Falls takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Bishop's Falls’ included.
- 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 Bishop's Falls.
- 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 Bishop's Falls.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bishop's Falls
Is Bishop's Falls at risk of wildfire?
Yes, by Canadian standards: Bishop's Falls’ band is high, with 11% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire counts against its Risk grade.
Does Bishop's Falls flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Bishop's Falls; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Bishop's Falls?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of 201 homes tested in Bishop's Falls’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bishop's Falls?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Bishop's Falls’ buildings lose $0.010 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Bishop's Falls’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bishop's Falls grades D for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers 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).