Photo: Paulo O from Halifax, Canada · CC BY 2.0Woodlawn is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Halifax Regional Municipality
The burn rate around Woodlawn is 0.06% a year (2.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. NRCan expects $0.018 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Woodlawn, near the typical $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Woodlawn grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Woodlawn’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Woodlawn: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Woodlawn faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Woodlawn: B−
Two inputs always count for Woodlawn, 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.
Some fire around Woodlawn: 2.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.4% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Woodlawn’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Woodlawn is 0.06%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
The nearer ring around Woodlawn is less wooded (46% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (74%).
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
Woodlawn ranks 17th of the 90 towns in Nova Scotia for burn rate, at 0.06% 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.
Moderate puts Woodlawn 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.
2 flood studies cover Woodlawn, the newest from Halifax Regional Municipality
Flood studies whose area touches Woodlawn, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Woodlawn, 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 |
| Shubenacadie Lakes Floodplain Study | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Nova Scotia: 88% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Woodlawn is among them.
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 Woodlawn 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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Woodlawn: $0.018 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Woodlawn’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
Earthquake risk around Woodlawn ($0.018) matches the middle in Nova Scotia ($0.018), far from Clare’s $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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 68% of its 2,611 towns sit above Woodlawn.
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 Woodlawn’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). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of Halifax
Radon runs high around Woodlawn: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Zone 6 health region
More homes than usual test high around Woodlawn: 13% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Woodlawn, 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Woodlawn among them; 4.6% rank above.
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 Woodlawn; 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 Woodlawn
Alerts for Woodlawn 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 Woodlawn 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 Woodlawn
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodlawn | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Manor Park 14,148 · 2.7 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Portland Estates 10,164 · 3.3 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Westphal 4,201 · 3.6 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Austinville 28,021 · 4.0 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Cole Harbour 21,627 · 4.7 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| North End 19,733 · 6.1 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
Manor Park burns a little more than Woodlawn, 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 Woodlawn faces
What to do about the hazards Woodlawn 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 Woodlawn.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Woodlawn’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Woodlawn is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Woodlawn’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Woodlawn
How is Woodlawn’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Woodlawn B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Woodlawn at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2.4% of the land around Woodlawn since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Woodlawn?
Around Woodlawn, 101 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Woodlawn flood?
There is flood mapping for Woodlawn on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Woodlawn?
About $0.018 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Woodlawn.
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).