Photo: CP Hoffman from Washington, DC, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Flood mapping exists for Schmidtville: 1 on record, latest by Halifax Regional Municipality
Some 2.7% of the land within 25 km of Schmidtville has burned since 1986; at 0.07% a year that is moderate, not high. NRCan expects $0.018 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Schmidtville, near the typical $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 Schmidtville a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Schmidtville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Schmidtville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Schmidtville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Schmidtville grades B− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Schmidtville, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
A moderate wildfire record for Schmidtville: 2.7% within 25 km burned, 5.7% within 5 km
Past fire around Schmidtville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Schmidtville burns at 0.07% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel covers 20% of the land close to Schmidtville and 70% across 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
The land around Schmidtville burns at 0.07% a year, the 7th 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Schmidtville, and 2.1% sit 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.
A flood study covers Schmidtville, from Halifax Regional Municipality: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Schmidtville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Halifax Regional Municipality holds the flood mapping that covers Schmidtville (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
Schmidtville 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Schmidtville floods.
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 Schmidtville: $0.018 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.6 times the typical $0.030: Schmidtville’s $0.018 is ordinary.
Schmidtville doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Halifax.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Nova Scotia: Schmidtville’s $0.018 sits by the median of $0.018, while 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.
Schmidtville 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Schmidtville’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 Schmidtville: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Zone 6 health region
More homes than usual test high around Schmidtville: 13% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Schmidtville, 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 Schmidtville, 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Schmidtville can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Schmidtville
Alerts for Schmidtville 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 Schmidtville 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)
Hazards in the places around Schmidtville
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schmidtville | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| North End 19,733 · 1.8 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| South End 22,012 · 2.8 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Westmount 23,207 · 3.3 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Windsor Park 13,044 · 3.4 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Manor Park 14,148 · 3.7 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Austinville 28,021 · 4.0 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Schmidtville (moderate), with South End next at moderate.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Schmidtville faces
What to do about the hazards Schmidtville 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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Schmidtville’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Schmidtville’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Schmidtville.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Schmidtville is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Schmidtville
Does Schmidtville flood?
There is flood mapping for Schmidtville on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Schmidtville?
Around Schmidtville, 101 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Schmidtville at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2.7% of the land around Schmidtville since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Schmidtville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Schmidtville B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Schmidtville?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Schmidtville’s buildings lose $0.018 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).