Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0Digby is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Province of Nova Scotia
Fire seldom reaches Digby: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.002% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Digby as in most places, at $0.019 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). About as many homes carry radon around Digby as elsewhere, 6.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Digby a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Digby’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Digby: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Digby faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Digby grades A− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Digby, 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.
Few fires near Digby: 0.2% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Digby’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Digby burns at 0.002% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
The nearer ring around Digby is less wooded (61% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (78%).
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 91
Digby ranks 60th of the 91 towns in Nova Scotia for burn rate (0.002% a year), in the lower half; Barrington leads at 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Digby 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.
2 flood studies cover Digby, the newest from Province of Nova Scotia
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Digby: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Digby the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Province of Nova Scotia’s in 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nova Scotia Flood Mapping Minas Basin Area | Province of Nova Scotia | 2024 | final · not public |
| Sissiboo/Bear Primary Watershed | Province of Nova Scotia | 2023 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Digby is one of the 88% of towns in Nova Scotia with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
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 Digby.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Digby $0.019 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Digby, $0.019 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Nova Scotia: Digby’s $0.019 against $0.018; Clare reaches $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.
Earthquakes cost less around Digby than in 66% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Digby’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).
6.2% of homes tested around Digby are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
The survey area of Digby reads 6.2%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Below the typical town in Nova Scotia (13%) at 6.2%, the area around Digby still had 2.1% 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Digby with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Digby only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Zone 1 health region, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Digby
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Digby; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Digby come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Digby’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digby | Low | $0.019 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Digby 7,528 · 14 km | Low | $0.027 | 6.2% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Digby (low), still no more than Digby (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Digby faces
What to do about the hazards Digby 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Digby.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Digby’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Digby takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Digby’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Digby
Is Digby at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Digby has burned since 1986, the last in 2023, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Digby’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Digby A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Digby?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.2% of 97 homes tested in Digby’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Digby flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Digby; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Digby?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Digby’s buildings lose $0.019 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).