Photo: André Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 2.0Wildfire moderate, radon 6.2%: how Argyle stands on hazards
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Argyle: 8.2% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.21% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Argyle as in most places, at $0.029 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Argyle grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Argyle’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Argyle: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Argyle faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Argyle: B+
Two inputs always count for Argyle, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #34 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #919 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.
Some fire around Argyle: 8.2% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 1.6% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Argyle’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Argyle burns at 0.21% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Argyle: 79% within 5 km and 78% 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 Nova Scotia · highest of 90
At 0.21% a year, Argyle is near the top in Nova Scotia: 2nd of 90, behind Barrington (0.46%).
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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Argyle, and 2.1% sit above it.
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 Argyle
Flood studies whose area touches Argyle, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Argyle has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Argyle has no study, where 88% of towns in Nova Scotia have one against 58% nationally.
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 Argyle 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Argyle $0.029 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.029 per $1,000, Argyle’s earthquake risk is the typical Canadian town’s $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Nova Scotia expects $0.018 a year; Argyle expects $0.029, and Clare $0.034.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Argyle’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 51% 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 model counts damage to Argyle’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 about average around Argyle: 6.2% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Zone 1 health region
Argyle’s area, at 6.2%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Argyle, 6.2% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³, under the median in Nova Scotia (13%); 2.1% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Argyle is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
The survey sampled homes around Argyle; 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 Argyle
Alerts for Argyle 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Argyle to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Argyle’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
Among its neighbours Argyle has the most fire on record (moderate); Yarmouth follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Argyle faces
What to do about the hazards Argyle 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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Argyle’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Argyle’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Argyle is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Argyle.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Argyle
Is Argyle at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 8.2% of the land around Argyle since 1986 (last in 2024); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Argyle flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Argyle’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Argyle’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Argyle grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Argyle?
Around Argyle, 97 survey homes were tested and 6.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Argyle?
Expected earthquake damage in Argyle comes to $0.029 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).