Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0A flood study covers Windsor Park: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Halifax Regional Municipality
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Windsor Park: 2.5% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.06% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. For earthquakes Windsor Park 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). Hazard risk gives Windsor Park a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Windsor Park’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Windsor Park: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Windsor Park faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Windsor Park grades B− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Windsor Park, 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: 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 Windsor Park: 2.5% within 25 km burned, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Windsor Park’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Windsor Park is 0.06%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 5.0 km from Windsor Park’s homes, none within 5 km.
Forest thickens with distance from Windsor Park: 14% of the land within 5 km, 71% 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
At 0.06% a year, Windsor Park is near the top in Nova Scotia: 15th of 90, 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Windsor Park, 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 Windsor Park, from Halifax Regional Municipality: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Windsor Park: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2024 study by Halifax Regional Municipality covers Windsor Park, 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
Windsor Park 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Windsor Park’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Windsor Park: $0.018 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.018 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Windsor Park is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Windsor Park’s $0.018 is close to the median in Nova Scotia, $0.018; Clare is highest 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (68%) face more earthquake damage than Windsor Park.
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 Windsor Park’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
Test for radon in Windsor Park: 13% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Windsor Park’s area has 13%. Windsor Park 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 Windsor Park 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.
Windsor Park 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.
The survey sampled homes around Windsor Park; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Windsor Park
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Windsor Park; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Windsor Park, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Windsor Park’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windsor Park | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| North End 19,733 · 1.7 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Fairview 16,296 · 1.9 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Westmount 23,207 · 2.7 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Austinville 28,021 · 3.2 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Mount Royale 9,340 · 3.4 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Schmidtville 18,105 · 3.4 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
The fire record around Schmidtville is a touch heavier than Windsor Park’s, but the band is the same: moderate (here moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Windsor Park faces
What to do about the hazards Windsor Park 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
- 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 Windsor Park.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Windsor Park’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Windsor Park’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Windsor Park is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Windsor Park
Does Windsor Park flood?
There is flood mapping for Windsor Park on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Windsor Park?
In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of 101 homes tested in Windsor Park’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Windsor Park at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 2.5% of the land within 25 km of Windsor Park has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Windsor Park?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Windsor Park’s buildings lose $0.018 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Windsor Park’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Windsor Park B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).