Photo: Verne Equinox · CC BY 4.0Wabana faces fewer hazards than 93% of Canadian towns
Fire seldom reaches Wabana: since 1986, 1.5% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.04% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.011 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. Wabana grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Wabana’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Wabana: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Wabana faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Wabana grades A for hazard risk
The grade weighs Wabana’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Few fires near Wabana: 0% within 5 km, 1.5% within 25 km
Past fire around Wabana’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Wabana burns at 0.04% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Wabana’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 17 km out.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Wabana: 58% within 5 km, 63% 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
The land around Wabana burns at 0.04% a year, the 9th highest rate of 33 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador; Labrador City tops it 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 takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Wabana among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Wabana
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Wabana: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Wabana has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Wabana is not yet one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Wabana 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Wabana just $0.011 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Wabana’s $0.011 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Wabana runs at $0.011 a year, near the $0.011 of the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador; 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (85%) face more earthquake damage than Wabana.
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 Wabana’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).
Radon runs low around Wabana: 4% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Wabana’s survey area reads 4% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority as a whole, not for Wabana alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Wabana’s area, at 4%, is close to the median 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 Wabana, 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 share describes the area, not a house: in Wabana as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Wabana
Alerts for Wabana 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 Wabana 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)
How Wabana’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wabana | Low | $0.011 | 4% | None listed |
| Portugal Cove-St. Philip's 9,167 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 4% | Yes |
| Paradise 26,155 · 13 km | Low | $0.015 | 4% | Yes |
| Torbay 8,297 · 15 km | Low | $0.011 | 4% | Yes |
| Conception Bay South 29,725 · 16 km | Low | $0.013 | 4% | None listed |
| Mount Pearl 24,266 · 17 km | Low | $0.011 | 4% | Yes |
| St. John's 128,693 · 18 km | Low | $0.011 | 4% | Yes |
Torbay (low) has the heaviest fire record of Wabana’s neighbours, and Wabana (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Wabana faces
What to do about the hazards Wabana 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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 Wabana’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Wabana without grading them.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Wabana until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Wabana’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Wabana
Is radon a problem in Wabana?
Around Wabana, 100 survey homes were tested and 4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wabana?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Wabana $0.011 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Wabana at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 1.5% of the land around Wabana since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Wabana’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Wabana A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Wabana flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Wabana’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).