Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center · Public domainDivision No. 8, Subdivision L faces fewer hazards than 93% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Division No. 8, Subdivision L, with 0.6% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.02% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.009 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Division No. 8, Subdivision L is ordinary for Canada: 5% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Division No. 8, Subdivision L a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Division No. 8, Subdivision L’s hazards
For Division No. 8, Subdivision L, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Division No. 8, Subdivision L 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. 8, Subdivision L: A
Seismic risk and radon set Division No. 8, Subdivision L’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #8 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #272 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Division No. 8, Subdivision L: 0.6% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Division No. 8, Subdivision L’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.02% burned a year, Division No. 8, Subdivision L is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Division No. 8, Subdivision L’s homes came within 7.5 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest fuel is denser close to Division No. 8, Subdivision L (74% within 5 km) than further out (68% 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
Labrador City tops the 32 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador at 0.43% a year; Division No. 8, Subdivision L, at 0.02%, comes 19th.
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. 8, Subdivision L 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Division No. 8, Subdivision L
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Division No. 8, Subdivision L: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Division No. 8, Subdivision L, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Division No. 8, Subdivision L 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Division No. 8, Subdivision L’s homes are at risk.
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 Division No. 8, Subdivision L: $0.009 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.009 per $1,000, Division No. 8, Subdivision L carries 0.3 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador: Division No. 8, Subdivision L’s $0.009 against $0.011; 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Division No. 8, Subdivision L than in 86% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
For Division No. 8, Subdivision L the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
5% of homes tested around Division No. 8, Subdivision L are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Central Regional Integrated Health Authority
Around Division No. 8, Subdivision L, 5% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Division No. 8, Subdivision L than in most towns in Newfoundland and Labrador: 5% over the guideline (4% is typical), 2% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Division No. 8, Subdivision L’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit higher.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Division No. 8, Subdivision L can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Division No. 8, Subdivision L
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Division No. 8, Subdivision L; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Division No. 8, Subdivision L, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Division No. 8, Subdivision L faces
Practical steps for Division No. 8, Subdivision L’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. 8, Subdivision L sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Division No. 8, Subdivision L.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Division No. 8, Subdivision L’s included.
- 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. 8, Subdivision L floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Division No. 8, Subdivision L
Is radon a problem in Division No. 8, Subdivision L?
5% of the 201 homes Health Canada tested around Division No. 8, Subdivision L topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Division No. 8, Subdivision L?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Division No. 8, Subdivision L $0.009 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Division No. 8, Subdivision L flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Division No. 8, Subdivision L (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is Division No. 8, Subdivision L at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Division No. 8, Subdivision L’s band is low, with 0.6% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Division No. 8, Subdivision L’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Division No. 8, Subdivision L’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).