Photo: Coastal Elite from Halifax, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Cole Harbour is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Halifax Regional Municipality
The burn rate around Cole Harbour is 0.06% a year (2.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Seismic risk in Cole Harbour sits near the middle: $0.018 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Cole Harbour grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Cole Harbour’s hazards
For Cole Harbour, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cole Harbour faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cole Harbour grades B− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Cole Harbour with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #47 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,724 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Fire reaches the land around Cole Harbour: 1% within 5 km, 2.4% within 25 km
Past fire around Cole Harbour’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Cole Harbour is 0.06%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
There is forest near Cole Harbour’s homes (51% within 5 km) and more of it further out (73% 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
Cole Harbour ranks 19th of the 90 towns in Nova Scotia for burn rate, at 0.06% a year; Barrington leads with 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.
Moderate puts Cole Harbour above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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.
Halifax Regional Municipality has mapped flooding for Cole Harbour (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cole Harbour: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Cole Harbour is Halifax Regional Municipality’s, dated 2024; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creation of Coastal, Pluvial, Fluvial Flood Hazard Maps for Halifax Regional Municipality | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Nova Scotia: 88% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Cole Harbour is among them.
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 Cole Harbour.
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 Cole Harbour $0.018 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Cole Harbour’s $0.018 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.6 times as much).
Cole Harbour shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Halifax.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Cole Harbour ($0.018) matches the middle in Nova Scotia ($0.018), far from Clare’s $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 Cole Harbour than in 68% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Cole Harbour is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs high around Cole Harbour: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Cole Harbour’s survey area reads 13% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Cole Harbour, 13% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town in Nova Scotia (13%); 1% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Cole Harbour 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.
A low area share in Cole Harbour doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Zone 6 health region
Where to get warnings in Cole Harbour
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cole Harbour; 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 Cole Harbour come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Cole Harbour
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cole Harbour | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Portland Estates 10,164 · 2.8 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Westphal 4,201 · 3.4 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Woodlawn 20,925 · 4.7 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Manor Park 14,148 · 5.3 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Eastern Passage 10,745 · 5.5 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Lawrencetown 3,509 · 6.0 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
Manor Park burns a little more than Cole Harbour, in the same moderate band (moderate here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cole Harbour faces
What to do about the hazards Cole Harbour 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Cole Harbour’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Cole Harbour until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Cole Harbour without grading them.
- 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 Cole Harbour.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cole Harbour
How big is the earthquake risk in Cole Harbour?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Cole Harbour’s buildings lose $0.018 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Cole Harbour’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cole Harbour’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Cole Harbour at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 2.4% of the land within 25 km of Cole Harbour has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Cole Harbour flood?
A flood study covers Cole Harbour on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Cole Harbour?
In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of 101 homes tested in Cole Harbour’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).