Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Mount Pearl: it beats 93% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near Mount Pearl: 0.8% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.02% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.011 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Mount Pearl grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Mount Pearl’s hazards
For Mount Pearl, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Mount Pearl faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Mount Pearl grades A for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Mount Pearl, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #11 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #278 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.
Few fires near Mount Pearl: 0% within 5 km, 0.8% within 25 km
Past fire around Mount Pearl’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Mount Pearl fire takes 0.02% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Mount Pearl’s homes came within 6.4 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest fuel covers 47% of the land close to Mount Pearl and 65% across 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 upper half in Newfoundland and Labrador but far from Labrador City (0.43%): Mount Pearl ranks 15th of 32, at 0.02% a year.
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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Mount Pearl burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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.
Flooding around Mount Pearl is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by GNL Department of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Mount Pearl: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
2 studies on the inventory touch Mount Pearl, the newest GNL Department of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change’s from 2025, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of St. John's Flood Mapping Study | GNL Department of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change | 2025 | final |
| Waterford River Area | Department of Environment and Climate Change | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Mount Pearl with 59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Mount Pearl between the 2010s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Mount Pearl.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Mount Pearl floods.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Mount Pearl just $0.011 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Mount Pearl’s $0.011 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.4 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Mount Pearl at $0.011 beside a median in Newfoundland and Labrador of $0.011, with Holyrood on top at $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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (85%) face more earthquake damage than Mount Pearl.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Mount Pearl.
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 Mount Pearl: 4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority: radon tests
Fewer homes than usual test high around Mount Pearl: 4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Mount Pearl, 4% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Mount Pearl, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Mount Pearl’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Mount Pearl
Alerts for Mount Pearl 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 Mount Pearl to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Mount Pearl’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Pearl | Low | $0.011 | 4% | Yes |
| Paradise 26,155 · 5.0 km | Low | $0.015 | 4% | Yes |
| St. John's 128,693 · 6.6 km | Low | $0.011 | 4% | Yes |
| Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove 1,005 · 9.4 km | Low | $0.012 | 4% | Yes |
| Portugal Cove-St. Philip's 9,167 · 10.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 4% | Yes |
| Conception Bay South 29,725 · 13 km | Low | $0.013 | 4% | None listed |
| Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove 2,601 · 16 km | Low | $0.013 | 4% | Yes |
The fire record around Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove is a touch heavier than Mount Pearl’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 Mount Pearl faces
What to do about the hazards Mount Pearl 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
- 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 Mount Pearl.
- 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 Mount Pearl sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Mount Pearl’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 Mount Pearl floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mount Pearl
Does Mount Pearl flood?
Mount Pearl’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mount Pearl?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Mount Pearl’s buildings lose $0.011 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Mount Pearl?
In Health Canada’s survey, 4% of 100 homes tested in Mount Pearl’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Mount Pearl’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Mount Pearl grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Mount Pearl at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.8% of the land within 25 km of Mount Pearl has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).