Flood mapping exists for Kippens: 1 on record, latest by Department of Environment and Climate Change
Burn scars are few around Kippens, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.005% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.007 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 10% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Kippens grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Kippens’s hazards
For Kippens, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Kippens faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Kippens: A−
The grade weighs Kippens’ seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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 Kippens: 1.9% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Kippens’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Kippens is 0.005%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Kippens: 70% within 5 km, 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 33
Labrador City tops the 33 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador at 0.43% a year; Kippens, at 0.005%, comes 23rd.
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.
Kippens 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.
A flood study covers Kippens, from Department of Environment and Climate Change: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Kippens, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Kippens is Department of Environment and Climate Change’s, dated 2009; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stephenville | Department of Environment and Climate Change | 2009 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Kippens is one of the 59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
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 Kippens’ 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Low seismic risk in Kippens: $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.
Kippens’ $0.007 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Newfoundland and Labrador: Kippens’ $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.
Kippens 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Kippens is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Kippens: 10% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Kippens’ area, at 10%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Western Regional Integrated Health Authority, with Kippens one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Kippens (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 Kippens, 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.
A low area share in Kippens doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Kippens
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kippens; 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 Kippens, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Kippens
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kippens | Low | $0.007 | 10% | Yes |
| Stephenville 6,840 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.011 | 10% | Yes |
| Stephenville Crossing 1,731 · 15 km | Low | $0.013 | 10% | Yes |
| St. George's 1,181 · 17 km | Low | $0.010 | 10% | None listed |
The fire record around St. George's is a touch heavier than Kippens’, 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 Kippens faces
What to do about the hazards Kippens 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Kippens takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Kippens.
- 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 Kippens.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Kippens’ included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kippens
Is Kippens at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.2% of the land within 25 km of Kippens has burned since 1986, the last in 1986, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Kippens’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kippens A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Kippens flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Kippens; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kippens?
Expected earthquake damage in Kippens comes to $0.007 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Kippens?
In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of 211 homes tested in Kippens’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).