Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Enfield is on Canada’s flood inventory: 4 listed, led by Halifax Regional Municipality
Wildfire is rare near Enfield: 0.4% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.009% a year. Seismic risk in Enfield sits near the middle: $0.021 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Enfield grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Enfield’s hazards
For Enfield, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Enfield faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Enfield grades C+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Enfield’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #83 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,817 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Enfield has burned: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.4% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Enfield’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.009% a year keeps Enfield in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Enfield: 79% within 5 km, 77% 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
In the upper half in Nova Scotia but far from Barrington (0.46%): Enfield ranks 44th of 90, at 0.009% a year.
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.
Enfield is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
4 flood studies cover Enfield, the newest from Halifax Regional Municipality
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Enfield: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Halifax Regional Municipality and others have studied flooding in areas that include Enfield: 4 studies, the latest from 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creation of Coastal, Pluvial, Fluvial Flood Hazard Maps for Halifax Regional Municipality | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2024 | final |
| Nova Scotia Flood Mapping Minas Basin Area | Province of Nova Scotia | 2024 | final · not public |
| Fundy Agricultural Marshlands Flood Maps | Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Saint Mary’s University | 2018 | final · not public |
| East Hants | Municipality of East Hants | 2013 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Enfield 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.
No single decade dominates: 4 studies for Enfield between the 2010s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Enfield.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Enfield’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Ordinary seismic risk in Enfield: $0.021 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.021 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Enfield is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Nova Scotia is $0.018; Enfield, at $0.021, is right beside it, and Clare tops the list at $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.
Middle of the pack: 63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Enfield.
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).
For Enfield the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
13% of homes tested around Enfield are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Zone 3 health region
Enfield’s area, at 13%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Enfield’s area, at 13%, is close to the median in Nova Scotia (13%); 3.1% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Enfield is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are higher.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Enfield, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Enfield
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Enfield; 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 Enfield, 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)
How Enfield’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enfield | Low | $0.021 | 13% | Yes |
| Indian Brook 14 1,225 · 12 km | Low | $0.023 | 13% | Yes |
| Dutch Settlement 6,234 · 16 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
The fire record around Dutch Settlement is a touch heavier than Enfield’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Enfield faces
Practical steps for Enfield’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?
- 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 Enfield.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Enfield takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Enfield’s included.
- 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 Enfield.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Enfield
Is Enfield at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Enfield’s low band (0.4% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Enfield’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Enfield’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Enfield?
The area’s survey found 13% of 96 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Enfield.
How big is the earthquake risk in Enfield?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Enfield’s buildings lose $0.021 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Enfield flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Enfield; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
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).