Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Witless Bay faces fewer hazards than 93% of Canadian towns
Little of the land around Witless Bay has burned: 0.8% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.02% 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. In Health Canada’s survey, just 4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Witless Bay a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Witless Bay’s hazards
For Witless Bay, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Witless Bay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Witless Bay grades A for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Witless Bay’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Witless Bay: 0% within 5 km, 0.8% within 25 km
Past fire around Witless Bay’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.02% of the land a year around Witless Bay, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Witless Bay’s homes came within 18 km, never inside 5 km.
The ring nearest Witless Bay is the most wooded: 74% forest fuel within 5 km against 66% 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 0.02% a year, Witless Bay ranks 16th of the 33 towns in Newfoundland and Labrador; Labrador City leads 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.
Some fire is mapped around Witless Bay, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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 Witless Bay
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Witless Bay: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Witless Bay; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Newfoundland and Labrador, 59% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Witless Bay.
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 Witless Bay.
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 Witless Bay: $0.011 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.011 per $1,000, Witless Bay carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Witless Bay’s $0.011 is close to the median in Newfoundland and Labrador, $0.011; Holyrood is highest at $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.
Witless Bay is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 85% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Witless Bay.
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 Witless Bay are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority
Fewer homes than usual test high around Witless Bay: 4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Witless Bay is ordinary for towns in Newfoundland and Labrador: 4%, beside a median of 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Witless Bay with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
Whatever Witless Bay’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Witless Bay
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Witless Bay; 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 Witless Bay, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Witless Bay’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Witless Bay | Low | $0.011 | 4% | None listed |
| Bay Bulls 1,699 · 5.1 km | Low | $0.011 | 4% | None listed |
| Division No. 1, Subdivision U 1,522 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 4% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Witless Bay (low); Bay Bulls comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Witless Bay faces
Practical steps for Witless Bay’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. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Witless Bay sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Witless Bay’s included.
- 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 Witless Bay floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Witless Bay.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Witless Bay
Is Witless Bay at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Witless Bay’s band is low, with 0.8% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Witless Bay?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Witless Bay’s buildings lose $0.011 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Witless Bay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Witless Bay’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Witless Bay?
4% of the 100 homes Health Canada tested around Witless Bay topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Witless Bay flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Witless Bay (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).