Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Flood mapping exists for Pasadena: 1 on record, latest by Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Wildfire isn’t Pasadena’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Pasadena grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Pasadena’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Pasadena: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Pasadena faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Pasadena grades A− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Pasadena’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #25 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #861 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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 Pasadena: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Pasadena’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Pasadena burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Forest crowds in on Pasadena: 87% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than 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 32
Near-zero burning puts Pasadena with 7 of the 32 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Pasadena is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 7.5% rank 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 Pasadena, from Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Pasadena, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Pasadena is Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s, dated 2021; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climate Change Flood Risk Mapping Study and the Development of a Flood Forecasting Service: Humber River Communities | Water Resources Management Division (WRMD), Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Pasadena 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Pasadena.
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 Pasadena just $0.006 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Pasadena’s $0.006 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: Pasadena’s $0.006 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Pasadena than in 88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 model counts damage to Pasadena’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Pasadena: 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.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Pasadena’s area, at 10%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Western Regional Integrated Health Authority, with Pasadena one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Pasadena (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.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Pasadena, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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.
One home in Pasadena can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Pasadena
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Pasadena; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Pasadena come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Pasadena faces
What to do about the hazards Pasadena 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Pasadena’s.
- 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 Pasadena sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Pasadena’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Pasadena floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pasadena
Is Pasadena at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Pasadena: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How is Pasadena’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Pasadena A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pasadena?
About $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Pasadena.
Is radon a problem in Pasadena?
In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of 211 homes tested in Pasadena’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Pasadena flood?
Pasadena’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).