Photo: A Disappearing Act · CC BY-SA 2.0A flood study covers Fairview: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Halifax Regional Municipality
The burn rate around Fairview is 0.06% a year (2.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Earthquake risk in Fairview is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.018 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Radon is higher than usual: 13% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Fairview a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Fairview’s hazards
For Fairview, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Fairview faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Fairview grades B− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Fairview’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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.
A moderate wildfire record for Fairview: 2.4% within 25 km burned, 0.4% within 5 km
Past fire around Fairview’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.06% of the land a year, Fairview’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The nearer ring around Fairview is less wooded (30% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (71%).
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
The land around Fairview burns at 0.06% a year, the 16th highest rate of 90 towns in Nova Scotia; Barrington tops it 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.
Moderate puts Fairview 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.
Fairview is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Halifax Regional Municipality
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Fairview: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2024 study by Halifax Regional Municipality covers Fairview, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| 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
88% of towns in Nova Scotia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Fairview has one too.
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 Fairview.
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 Fairview $0.018 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Fairview’s $0.018 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.6 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Nova Scotia: Fairview’s $0.018 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.
Fairview is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 68% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Fairview 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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Halifax
13% of homes tested around Fairview are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Zone 6 health region: radon tests
Fairview’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
Ordinary for towns in Nova Scotia at 13% over 200 Bq/m³ (13% is the median), the area around Fairview had 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Fairview, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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.
Whatever Fairview’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 Fairview
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Fairview; 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 Fairview 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 Fairview’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairview | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Mount Royale 9,340 · 1.5 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Windsor Park 13,044 · 1.9 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Westmount 23,207 · 2.6 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Clayton Park West 34,404 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| North End 19,733 · 3.4 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Schmidtville 18,105 · 4.9 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
Schmidtville burns a little more than Fairview, 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 Fairview faces
Practical steps for Fairview’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- 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 Fairview.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Fairview’s included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Fairview without grading them.
- 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 Fairview until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fairview
Is Fairview at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Fairview’s moderate band (2.4% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Fairview?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Fairview’s buildings lose $0.018 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Fairview’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fairview’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Fairview flood?
A flood study covers Fairview 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 Fairview?
The area’s survey found 13% of 101 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Fairview.
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).