Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rebfoto/ Emile Baddour · CC0Few places are as safe from hazards as Holyrood: it beats 88% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near Holyrood: 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.005% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.015 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Holyrood a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Holyrood’s hazards
For Holyrood, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Holyrood faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Holyrood: A
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Holyrood with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #23 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #481 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Holyrood: 0.7% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km
Past fire around Holyrood’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Holyrood is 0.005%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest fuel is denser close to Holyrood (85% within 5 km) than further out (70% 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
In the lower half in Newfoundland and Labrador: Holyrood at 0.005% a year, 23rd of 32, 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.
Holyrood is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 Holyrood
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Holyrood: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Holyrood, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Newfoundland and Labrador, 59% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Holyrood.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Holyrood’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Holyrood: $0.015 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.5 times the typical $0.030: Holyrood’s $0.015 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Holyrood has the highest shaking-damage figure in Newfoundland and Labrador, $0.015 a year per $1,000; the median is $0.011.
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: 72% of its 2,611 towns sit above Holyrood.
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 Holyrood 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).
Little radon around Holyrood: 4% of area 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 Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority
Fewer homes than usual test high around Holyrood: 4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Holyrood’s area, at 4%, is close to the median in Newfoundland and Labrador (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Holyrood is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have 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.
Whatever Holyrood’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Holyrood
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Holyrood; 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 Holyrood, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Holyrood’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holyrood | Low | $0.015 | 4% | None listed |
| Harbour Main-Chapel's Cove-Lakeview 1,180 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.014 | 4% | None listed |
| Division No. 1, Subdivision M 1,270 · 16 km | Low | $0.016 | 4% | Yes |
| Conception Bay South 29,725 · 16 km | Low | $0.013 | 4% | None listed |
| Clarke's Beach 1,555 · 18 km | Low | $0.010 | 4% | None listed |
The fire record around Conception Bay South is a touch heavier than Holyrood’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Holyrood faces
What to do about the hazards Holyrood 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Holyrood.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Holyrood’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Holyrood 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 Holyrood.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Holyrood
Is radon a problem in Holyrood?
Around Holyrood, 100 survey homes were tested and 4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Holyrood flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Holyrood’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Holyrood’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Holyrood grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Holyrood at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Holyrood since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Holyrood?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Holyrood $0.015 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).