Photo: Dan Fleet at English Wikipedia · Public domainOn hazards, Wabush comes out behind 97% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is a real hazard for Wabush: 19% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.47% a year, in the high band. Seismic risk runs low: $0.004 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 3% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Wabush a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Wabush’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Wabush: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Wabush faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Wabush grades D− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Wabush’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.
A high wildfire band for Wabush: 0.9% within 5 km, 19% within 25 km
Past fire around Wabush’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
High: the land around Wabush burns at 0.47% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel covers 53% of the land close to Wabush and 61% across 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
First of 33 in Newfoundland and Labrador: Wabush at 0.47% a year, ahead of 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.
High is rare: 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Wabush among them, with 0.2% higher still.
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 Wabush
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Wabush: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Wabush has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Wabush 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 Wabush’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.”
Little shaking expected in Wabush: $0.004 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.1 times the typical $0.030: Wabush’s $0.004 is low for Canada.
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; Wabush expects less, $0.004, 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.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Wabush has 98% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Wabush’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
3% of homes tested around Wabush are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Wabush’s area, at 3%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Below the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador (4%) at 3%, the area around Wabush still had 0.5% of tests over 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Wabush is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have 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.
One home in Wabush 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). · Data for radon tests covers the Labrador-Grenfell Regional Integrated Health Auth health region
Weather and fire alerts for Wabush
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Wabush; 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. |
For fires near Wabush, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Wabush
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wabush | High | $0.004 | 3% | None listed |
| Labrador City 7,965 · 5.7 km | High | $0.004 | 3% | None listed |
| Fermont 2,129 · 19 km | High | $0.005 | 4.7% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Wabush (high); Labrador City comes closest (high).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Wabush faces
What to do about the hazards Wabush 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Wabush sits in.
- 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 Wabush’s.
- 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 Wabush floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Wabush’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 Wabush
Does Wabush flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Wabush’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Wabush’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wabush grades D− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Wabush at risk of wildfire?
More than most Canadian towns; Wabush’s high band rests on 19% of nearby land burned since 1986 (most recently 2024).
How big is the earthquake risk in Wabush?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Wabush $0.004 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Wabush?
Around Wabush, 201 survey homes were tested and 3% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).