Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Carbonear is lower than in 94% of Canadian towns
The burn rate around Carbonear is 0.23% a year (9.2% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. 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. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Carbonear a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Carbonear’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Carbonear: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Carbonear faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Carbonear: A
The grade weighs Carbonear’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #5 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #258 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.
Fire reaches the land around Carbonear: 0% within 5 km, 9.2% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Carbonear’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.23% of the land a year, Carbonear’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Carbonear’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 7.2 km out.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Carbonear: 66% within 5 km and 69% 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
The land around Carbonear burns at 0.23% a year, the 4th highest rate of 32 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador; Labrador City tops it 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 Carbonear, 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.
Department of Environment and Climate Change has mapped flooding for Carbonear (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Carbonear, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Department of Environment and Climate Change holds the flood mapping that covers Carbonear (2022), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climate Change Flood Risk Study for Placentia, Carbonear, Victoria, and Salmon Cove | Department of Environment and Climate Change | 2022 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Carbonear has one too.
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 Carbonear 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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Carbonear just $0.010 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.3 times the typical $0.030: Carbonear’s $0.010 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Carbonear runs at $0.010 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (86%) face more earthquake damage than Carbonear.
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).
The loss is to Carbonear’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Carbonear are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Carbonear’s area has fewer, 4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Carbonear 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 Carbonear, 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.
The survey sampled homes around Carbonear; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Carbonear
Alerts for Carbonear 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 Carbonear 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 Carbonear
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carbonear | Moderate | $0.010 | 4% | Yes |
| Victoria 1,837 · 3.6 km | Moderate | $0.009 | 4% | Yes |
| Harbour Grace 2,872 · 5.6 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 4% | None listed |
| Upper Island Cove 1,553 · 9.6 km | Moderate | $0.012 | 4% | Yes |
| Spaniard's Bay 2,664 · 14 km | Moderate | $0.011 | 4% | Yes |
| Bay Roberts 6,407 · 17 km | Low | $0.010 | 4% | Yes |
The fire record around Victoria is a touch heavier than Carbonear’s, but the band is the same: moderate (here moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Carbonear faces
What to do about the hazards Carbonear 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
- 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 Carbonear 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 Carbonear sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Carbonear’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Carbonear’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Carbonear
How is Carbonear’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Carbonear A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Carbonear?
Around Carbonear, 100 survey homes were tested and 4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Carbonear flood?
Carbonear’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is Carbonear at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 9.2% of the land around Carbonear since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Carbonear?
About $0.010 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Carbonear.
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).