Victoria faces fewer hazards than 96% of Canadian towns
Some 9.7% of the land within 25 km of Victoria has burned since 1986; at 0.24% a year that is moderate, not high. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.009 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is lower than usual: 4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Victoria grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Victoria’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Victoria: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Victoria faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Victoria grades A+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Victoria, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Fire reaches the land around Victoria: 1.8% within 5 km, 9.7% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Victoria’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Victoria burns at 0.24% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
There is forest near Victoria’s homes (55% within 5 km) and more of it further out (67% 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
At 0.24% a year, Victoria is near the top in Newfoundland and Labrador: 4th of 33, behind Labrador City (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.
Moderate puts Victoria above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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.
Victoria is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Department of Environment and Climate Change
Flood studies whose area touches Victoria, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Victoria the inventory points to Department of Environment and Climate Change’s 2022 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climate Change Flood Risk Study for Placentia, Carbonear, Victoria, and Salmon Cove | Department of Environment and Climate Change | 2022 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Victoria has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Victoria to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Victoria: $0.009 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.
0.3 times the typical $0.030: Victoria’s $0.009 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Newfoundland and Labrador: Victoria’s $0.009 sits by the median of $0.011, while Holyrood reaches $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.
Victoria is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 86% 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).
The loss is to Victoria’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).
4% of homes tested around Victoria are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Victoria’s area, at 4%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority, with Victoria one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador has 4% over 200 Bq/m³; Victoria’s area has 4%, much the same.
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 Victoria, 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.
The survey sampled homes around Victoria; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Victoria
Alerts for Victoria 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. |
Evacuation orders for Victoria come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Victoria
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | Moderate | $0.009 | 4% | Yes |
| Carbonear 5,041 · 3.6 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 4% | Yes |
| Harbour Grace 2,872 · 9.1 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 4% | None listed |
| Upper Island Cove 1,553 · 13 km | Moderate | $0.012 | 4% | Yes |
| Spaniard's Bay 2,664 · 17 km | Moderate | $0.011 | 4% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Victoria has the most fire on record (moderate); Carbonear follows (moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Victoria faces
What to do about the hazards Victoria faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Victoria’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Victoria.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Victoria’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Victoria takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Victoria
Is radon a problem in Victoria?
Around Victoria, 100 survey homes were tested and 4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Victoria at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 9.7% of the land around Victoria since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Victoria?
About $0.009 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Victoria.
Does Victoria flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Victoria; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Victoria’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Victoria A+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).