Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center · Public domainDivision No. 4, Subdivision B’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 10% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire is rare near Division No. 4, Subdivision B: 0.4% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.009% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.009 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Division No. 4, Subdivision B grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Division No. 4, Subdivision B: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Division No. 4, Subdivision B faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Division No. 4, Subdivision B: B+
Earthquake risk and radon make Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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 Division No. 4, Subdivision B: 0.4% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Division No. 4, Subdivision B burns at 0.009% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 7.3 km away.
About as much forest grows next to Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s homes (85% within 5 km) as across 25 km (84%).
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 33
In the lower half in Newfoundland and Labrador: Division No. 4, Subdivision B at 0.009% a year, 22nd of 33, far from Labrador City’s 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.
Some fire is mapped around Division No. 4, Subdivision B, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Division No. 4, Subdivision B
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Division No. 4, Subdivision B: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Division No. 4, Subdivision B has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Division No. 4, Subdivision B is not yet one of 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 Division No. 4, Subdivision B 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.”
Low seismic risk in Division No. 4, Subdivision B: $0.009 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Division No. 4, Subdivision B it is only $0.009, 0.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Newfoundland and Labrador: Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s $0.009 sits by the median of $0.011, while 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (86%) face more earthquake damage than Division No. 4, Subdivision B.
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 Division No. 4, Subdivision B’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 high around Division No. 4, Subdivision B: 10% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Western Regional Integrated Health Authority
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s area, at 10%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Division No. 4, Subdivision B than in most towns in Newfoundland and Labrador: 10% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Division No. 4, Subdivision B sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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.
One home in Division No. 4, Subdivision B can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Division No. 4, Subdivision B
Alerts for Division No. 4, Subdivision B 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 Division No. 4, Subdivision B to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Division No. 4, Subdivision B faces
Practical steps for Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- 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 Division No. 4, Subdivision B sits in.
- 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 Division No. 4, Subdivision B floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Division No. 4, Subdivision B
Is Division No. 4, Subdivision B at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s low band (0.4% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2009) is short of the level that counts.
Does Division No. 4, Subdivision B flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Division No. 4, Subdivision B, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Division No. 4, Subdivision B?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s buildings lose $0.009 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Division No. 4, Subdivision B’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Division No. 4, Subdivision B grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Division No. 4, Subdivision B?
The area’s survey found 10% of 211 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Division No. 4, Subdivision B.
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).