Photo: Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0Springdale faces fewer hazards than 95% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Springdale’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.007 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Springdale’s survey area, 5% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Springdale grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Springdale’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Springdale: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Springdale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Springdale: A+
Seismic risk and radon set Springdale’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #4 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #245 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Springdale: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Springdale’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Springdale at 0.001% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 25 km from Springdale’s homes, none within 5 km.
84% of the land within 5 km of Springdale is forest fuel, close to the 87% 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
Labrador City tops the 32 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador at 0.43% a year; Springdale, at 0.001%, comes 25th.
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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Springdale stays low, with 92%.
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 Springdale
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Springdale: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Springdale; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Springdale 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Springdale’s homes are at risk.
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 Springdale just $0.007 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.007 per $1,000, Springdale carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador expects $0.011 a year in shaking damage; Springdale expects less, $0.007, and Holyrood the most, $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 Springdale 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 loss is to Springdale’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).
Radon about average around Springdale: 5% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Central Regional Integrated Health Authority
Around Springdale, 5% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Springdale’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.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Springdale’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Springdale only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Springdale
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Springdale; 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 Springdale, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Springdale faces
Practical steps for Springdale’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, Springdale 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 Springdale.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Springdale’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Springdale’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Springdale
How is Springdale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Springdale’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Springdale flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Springdale (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Springdale?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Springdale’s buildings lose $0.007 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Springdale?
5% of the 201 homes Health Canada tested around Springdale topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Springdale at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Springdale’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 1987), so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).