Photo: Tango7174 · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Irishtown-Summerside: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 10% of tested homes
For Irishtown-Summerside, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 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). Irishtown-Summerside grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Irishtown-Summerside’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Irishtown-Summerside: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Irishtown-Summerside faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Irishtown-Summerside: A−
For Irishtown-Summerside, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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 Irishtown-Summerside: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Irishtown-Summerside’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Irishtown-Summerside burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
80% of the land within 5 km of Irishtown-Summerside is forest fuel, close to the 79% 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
Near-zero burning puts Irishtown-Summerside with 8 of the 33 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador, far below Labrador City at 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Irishtown-Summerside, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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 Irishtown-Summerside
Flood studies whose area touches Irishtown-Summerside, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Irishtown-Summerside, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Irishtown-Summerside 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Irishtown-Summerside’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 Irishtown-Summerside: $0.007 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.007 per $1,000, Irishtown-Summerside carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Newfoundland and Labrador: Irishtown-Summerside’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.
Irishtown-Summerside is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 88% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Irishtown-Summerside’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).
Test for radon in Irishtown-Summerside: 10% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 10% over the guideline, the area around Irishtown-Summerside beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Irishtown-Summerside 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Irishtown-Summerside 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Irishtown-Summerside as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Western Regional Integrated Health Authority)
Weather and fire alerts for Irishtown-Summerside
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Irishtown-Summerside; 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 Irishtown-Summerside, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Irishtown-Summerside
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irishtown-Summerside | Low | $0.007 | 10% | None listed |
| Corner Brook 20,549 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.007 | 10% | Yes |
| Massey Drive 1,760 · 6.4 km | Low | $0.008 | 10% | None listed |
| Humber Arm South 1,595 · 16 km | Low | $0.007 | 10% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Irishtown-Summerside has the most fire on record (low); Corner Brook follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Irishtown-Summerside faces
Practical steps for Irishtown-Summerside’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 Irishtown-Summerside 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 Irishtown-Summerside floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Irishtown-Summerside’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Irishtown-Summerside’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Irishtown-Summerside
Does Irishtown-Summerside flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Irishtown-Summerside (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Irishtown-Summerside?
Expected earthquake damage in Irishtown-Summerside comes to $0.007 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Irishtown-Summerside at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Irishtown-Summerside since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
Is radon a problem in Irishtown-Summerside?
10% of the 211 homes Health Canada tested around Irishtown-Summerside topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Irishtown-Summerside’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Irishtown-Summerside grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).