Photo: The original uploader was Sprocket at English Wikipedia . · CC BY-SA 2.5A flood study covers Lower Sackville: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Halifax Regional Municipality
Burn scars are few around Lower Sackville, with 1.9% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.05% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Lower Sackville as in most places, at $0.018 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). 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 Lower Sackville a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Lower Sackville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lower Sackville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lower Sackville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Lower Sackville: B−
For Lower Sackville, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Lower Sackville has burned: 0.3% within 5 km, 1.9% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lower Sackville’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Lower Sackville fire takes 0.05% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
There is forest near Lower Sackville’s homes (53% within 5 km) and more of it further out (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
Lower Sackville sits mid-table in Nova Scotia: 29th of 90 towns, at 0.05% a year, well behind Barrington (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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Lower Sackville burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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 Lower Sackville, the newest from Halifax Regional Municipality
Flood studies whose area touches Lower Sackville, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Lower Sackville, the newest Halifax Regional Municipality’s from 2024, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creation of Coastal, Pluvial, Fluvial Flood Hazard Maps for Halifax Regional Municipality | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2024 | final |
| Sackville River | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2017 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Nova Scotia reaches 88% of towns, Lower Sackville included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2 studies touching Lower Sackville are spread over time, from the 2010s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Lower Sackville.
Flood mapping is shown for Lower Sackville to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Lower Sackville: $0.018 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.018 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Lower Sackville is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Lower Sackville at $0.018 beside a median in Nova Scotia of $0.018, with Clare on top 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.
68% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Lower Sackville.
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).
The loss is to Lower Sackville’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Halifax
13% of homes tested around Lower Sackville are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Lower Sackville: 13% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Zone 6 health region, Lower Sackville included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Lower Sackville, 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Lower Sackville, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
One home in Lower Sackville can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Lower Sackville
Alerts for Lower Sackville 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 Lower Sackville 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 Lower Sackville’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Sackville | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Middle Sackville 14,898 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Bedford 28,848 · 5.7 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Fall River 9,214 · 6.9 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Beaver Bank 9,157 · 7.3 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Hammonds Plains 13,844 · 9.2 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Clayton Park West 34,404 · 11 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
The fire record around Bedford is a touch heavier than Lower Sackville’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 Lower Sackville faces
Practical steps for Lower Sackville’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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Lower Sackville without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Lower Sackville’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Lower Sackville’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Lower Sackville until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lower Sackville
Is radon a problem in Lower Sackville?
The area’s survey found 13% of 101 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Lower Sackville.
Is Lower Sackville at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Lower Sackville’s low band (1.9% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Lower Sackville flood?
A flood study covers Lower Sackville on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lower Sackville?
Expected earthquake damage in Lower Sackville comes to $0.018 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Lower Sackville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lower Sackville’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).