Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHazards in Division No. 4, Subdivision E: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 10% of tested homes
Wildfire is rare near Division No. 4, Subdivision E: 0.3% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.007% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.008 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Division No. 4, Subdivision E a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Division No. 4, Subdivision E’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Division No. 4, Subdivision E: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Division No. 4, Subdivision E 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 E: B+
Seismic risk and radon set Division No. 4, Subdivision E’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Division No. 4, Subdivision E: 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Division No. 4, Subdivision E’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.007% of the land a year around Division No. 4, Subdivision E, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Division No. 4, Subdivision E’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 23 km away.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Division No. 4, Subdivision E: 73% within 5 km, 75% 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 33
In the lower half in Newfoundland and Labrador: Division No. 4, Subdivision E at 0.007% 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Division No. 4, Subdivision E among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
No flood study is listed for Division No. 4, Subdivision E
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Division No. 4, Subdivision E: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Division No. 4, Subdivision E; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Division No. 4, Subdivision E has no study, where 59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador have one against 58% nationally.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Division No. 4, Subdivision E to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 E: $0.008 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 E it is only $0.008, 0.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador expects $0.011 a year in shaking damage; Division No. 4, Subdivision E expects less, $0.008, and Holyrood the most, $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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 87% of its 2,611 towns sit above Division No. 4, Subdivision E.
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 model counts damage to Division No. 4, Subdivision E’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 E: 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
More homes than usual test high around Division No. 4, Subdivision E: 10% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Division No. 4, Subdivision E (10%) than in the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador (4%); 1.9% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Division No. 4, Subdivision E, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 E 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 E
Alerts for Division No. 4, Subdivision E 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 E 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 E faces
Practical steps for Division No. 4, Subdivision E’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Division No. 4, Subdivision E’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Division No. 4, Subdivision E is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Division No. 4, Subdivision E.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Division No. 4, Subdivision E’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Division No. 4, Subdivision E
How is Division No. 4, Subdivision E’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Division No. 4, Subdivision E B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Division No. 4, Subdivision E?
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 E.
Does Division No. 4, Subdivision E flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Division No. 4, Subdivision E, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Division No. 4, Subdivision E at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Division No. 4, Subdivision E’s low band (0.3% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 1986) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Division No. 4, Subdivision E?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Division No. 4, Subdivision E’s buildings lose $0.008 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).