Photo: Torbenbrinker|Torbenbrinker · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Deer Lake: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Deer Lake: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.007 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is higher than usual: 10% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Deer Lake a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Deer Lake’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Deer Lake: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Deer Lake faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Deer Lake: A−
Two inputs always count for Deer Lake, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #26 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #885 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.
Wildfire is rare near Deer Lake: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Deer Lake’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Deer Lake at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Deer Lake: 73% within 5 km and 76% 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
Of the 32 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador, 7 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Deer Lake among them; Labrador City leads at 0.43% a year.
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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Deer Lake is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has mapped flooding for Deer Lake (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Deer Lake: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador studied flooding in an area that includes Deer Lake (2021); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climate Change Flood Risk Mapping Study and the Development of a Flood Forecasting Service: Humber River Communities | Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador | 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 Deer Lake is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Deer Lake.
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.
Low seismic risk in Deer Lake: $0.007 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Deer Lake’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
Below the middle in Newfoundland and Labrador: Deer Lake’s $0.007 against a median of $0.011; 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 (88%) face more earthquake damage than Deer Lake.
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 Deer Lake’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).
Radon runs high around Deer Lake: 10% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Deer Lake: 10% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. Deer Lake shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Western Regional Integrated Health Authority.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Deer Lake’s area, at 10%, is above the median in Newfoundland and Labrador (4%), and 1.9% 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Deer Lake among them; 4.6% rank above.
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 Deer Lake 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 Deer Lake
Alerts for Deer Lake 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. |
Evacuation orders for Deer Lake come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Deer Lake faces
What to do about the hazards Deer Lake 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Deer Lake’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Deer Lake 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 Deer Lake until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Deer Lake’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Deer Lake
How big is the earthquake risk in Deer Lake?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Deer Lake $0.007 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Deer Lake at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Deer Lake since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Is radon a problem in Deer Lake?
In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of 211 homes tested in Deer Lake’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Deer Lake flood?
A flood study covers Deer Lake on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Deer Lake’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Deer Lake’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).