Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainFew places are as safe from hazards as New-Wes-Valley: it beats 88% of Canadian towns
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of New-Wes-Valley’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.013 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon around New-Wes-Valley is ordinary for Canada: 5% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). New-Wes-Valley grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about New-Wes-Valley’s hazards
For New-Wes-Valley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What New-Wes-Valley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in New-Wes-Valley: A
Seismic risk and radon set New-Wes-Valley’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Little of the land around New-Wes-Valley has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around New-Wes-Valley’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around New-Wes-Valley fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Within 5 km of New-Wes-Valley, 34% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 57%.
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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around New-Wes-Valley, as for 8 of the 33 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador; Labrador City tops the list 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and New-Wes-Valley sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are 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.
No flood study is listed for New-Wes-Valley
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for New-Wes-Valley: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on New-Wes-Valley, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
New-Wes-Valley has no flood study on file, though 59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador do (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for New-Wes-Valley.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in New-Wes-Valley just $0.013 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.013 per $1,000, New-Wes-Valley carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Newfoundland and Labrador is $0.011; New-Wes-Valley, at $0.013, is right beside it, and Holyrood tops the list 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.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than New-Wes-Valley.
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 New-Wes-Valley 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 about average around New-Wes-Valley: 5% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Central Regional Integrated Health Authority: radon tests
At 5% over the guideline, the area around New-Wes-Valley is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
New-Wes-Valley’s area, at 5%, is above the median in Newfoundland and Labrador (4%), and 2% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: New-Wes-Valley, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
Whatever New-Wes-Valley’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 New-Wes-Valley
Alerts for New-Wes-Valley 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near New-Wes-Valley are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what New-Wes-Valley faces
Practical steps for New-Wes-Valley’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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, New-Wes-Valley 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 New-Wes-Valley.
- 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 New-Wes-Valley.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, New-Wes-Valley’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in New-Wes-Valley
How big is the earthquake risk in New-Wes-Valley?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in New-Wes-Valley $0.013 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is New-Wes-Valley at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around New-Wes-Valley (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is New-Wes-Valley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
New-Wes-Valley grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in New-Wes-Valley?
5% of the 201 homes Health Canada tested around New-Wes-Valley topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does New-Wes-Valley flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers New-Wes-Valley (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).