Photo: Yergoneby · CC BY-SA 4.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Bonavista: it beats 96% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Bonavista, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.009 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Bonavista a grade of A+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Bonavista’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Bonavista: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Bonavista faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bonavista grades A+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Bonavista with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #2 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #241 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around Bonavista has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Bonavista’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Bonavista fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The nearer ring around Bonavista is less wooded (53% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (70%).
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
Near-zero burning puts Bonavista with 7 of the 32 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Bonavista sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are 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 Bonavista
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Bonavista: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Bonavista, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Newfoundland and Labrador, 59% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Bonavista.
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 Bonavista.
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 Bonavista: $0.009 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Bonavista’s $0.009 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
The median in Newfoundland and Labrador is $0.011; Bonavista, at $0.009, is right beside it, and Holyrood tops the list 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (86%) face more earthquake damage than Bonavista.
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 Bonavista’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).
Radon runs low around Bonavista: 4% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority: radon tests
At 4% over the guideline, the area around Bonavista is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Bonavista is ordinary for towns in Newfoundland and Labrador: 4%, beside a median of 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Bonavista, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Bonavista can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Bonavista
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bonavista; 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 Bonavista, 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 Bonavista’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonavista | Low | $0.009 | 4% | None listed |
| Trinity Bay North 1,692 · 15 km | Low | $0.010 | 4% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Trinity Bay North (low), still no more than Bonavista (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bonavista faces
What to do about the hazards Bonavista 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Bonavista’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Bonavista without grading them.
- 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 Bonavista until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Bonavista’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bonavista
Is radon a problem in Bonavista?
In Health Canada’s survey, 4% of 100 homes tested in Bonavista’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bonavista?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Bonavista’s buildings lose $0.009 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Bonavista’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bonavista’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Bonavista at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Bonavista’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Bonavista flood?
Nothing is listed for Bonavista on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).