Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainA flood study covers Harrietsfield: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Halifax Regional Municipality
Some 3% of the land within 25 km of Harrietsfield has burned since 1986; at 0.08% a year that is moderate, not high. For earthquakes Harrietsfield is middling, $0.018 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Harrietsfield grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Harrietsfield’s hazards
For Harrietsfield, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Harrietsfield faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Harrietsfield grades B− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Harrietsfield, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Some fire around Harrietsfield: 3% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 3.3% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Harrietsfield’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.08% of the land a year, Harrietsfield’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel is denser close to Harrietsfield (76% within 5 km) than further out (67% 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
Harrietsfield ranks 6th of the 90 towns in Nova Scotia for burn rate, at 0.08% 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.
Harrietsfield is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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.
Harrietsfield is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Halifax Regional Municipality
Flood studies whose area touches Harrietsfield, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Halifax Regional Municipality holds the flood mapping that covers Harrietsfield (2024), linked below.
| 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
Its flood study puts Harrietsfield with 88% of towns in Nova Scotia; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Harrietsfield.
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 Harrietsfield $0.018 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 $0.018 per $1,000, Harrietsfield’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.6 times).
Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of Halifax, with Harrietsfield one part of it.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Nova Scotia: Harrietsfield’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.
Harrietsfield 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Harrietsfield.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Harrietsfield: 13% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Harrietsfield’s area, at 13%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. Harrietsfield doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Zone 6 health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
1% of tests around Harrietsfield passed 600 Bq/m³; over 200, its 13% matches the median in Nova Scotia, 13%.
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 Harrietsfield, 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 Harrietsfield’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 Harrietsfield
Alerts for Harrietsfield 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Harrietsfield are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Harrietsfield’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harrietsfield | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Hatchet Lake 9,930 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| South End 22,012 · 9.6 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Westmount 23,207 · 11 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Schmidtville 18,105 · 12 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Mount Royale 9,340 · 13 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| North End 19,733 · 13 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Harrietsfield (moderate); South End comes closest (moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Harrietsfield faces
What to do about the hazards Harrietsfield 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
- 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 Harrietsfield until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Harrietsfield, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Harrietsfield without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Harrietsfield’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Harrietsfield
How big is the earthquake risk in Harrietsfield?
Expected earthquake damage in Harrietsfield comes to $0.018 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Harrietsfield’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Harrietsfield’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Harrietsfield at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 3% of the land within 25 km of Harrietsfield has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Harrietsfield?
In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of 101 homes tested in Harrietsfield’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Harrietsfield flood?
A flood study covers Harrietsfield on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).