Photo: chester902 · Public domainKentville is on Canada’s flood inventory: 3 listed, led by Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Saint Mary’s University
Fire seldom reaches Kentville: since 1986, 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.005% a year). Earthquake risk in Kentville is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.017 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Radon is about average around Kentville: 5.6% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Kentville a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Kentville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kentville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kentville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Kentville grades A− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Kentville, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #16 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #583 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.
Few fires near Kentville: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km
Past fire around Kentville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.005% burned a year, Kentville is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Forest thickens with distance from Kentville: 36% of the land within 5 km, 57% 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
Kentville ranks 49th of the 90 towns in Nova Scotia for burn rate (0.005% a year), in the lower half; Barrington leads 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Kentville reads low, with 92% of them; only 7.5% 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.
3 flood studies cover Kentville, the newest from Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Saint Mary’s University
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Kentville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Kentville the inventory points to 3 studies, most recently Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Saint Mary’s University’s in 2018.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fundy Agricultural Marshlands Flood Maps | Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Saint Mary’s University | 2018 | final · not public |
| East Kentville | Town of Kentville | 2014 | final |
| Kings County | Municipality of the County of Kings | 2012 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Kentville 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Kentville.
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 Kentville $0.017 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Kentville, $0.017 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Nova Scotia: Kentville’s $0.017 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.
Kentville is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 70% 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).
The model counts damage to Kentville’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Kentville: 5.6% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Zone 2 health region
At 5.6% over the guideline, the area around Kentville is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Kentville (5.6%) than in the typical town in Nova Scotia (13%), yet 2.8% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Kentville is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Kentville only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Kentville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kentville; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Kentville come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Kentville
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentville | Low | $0.017 | 5.6% | Yes |
| Kings County, Subdivision C 8,994 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.020 | 5.6% | Yes |
| Kings County, Subdivision B 12,661 · 7.1 km | Low | $0.022 | 5.6% | Yes |
| Wolfville 5,587 · 11 km | Low | $0.016 | 5.6% | Yes |
| Kings County, Subdivision D 6,517 · 13 km | Low | $0.018 | 5.6% | Yes |
| Berwick 2,631 · 19 km | Low | $0.029 | 5.6% | Yes |
Berwick burns a little more than Kentville, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kentville faces
What to do about the hazards Kentville faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Kentville takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Kentville’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Kentville.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Kentville’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kentville
Is radon a problem in Kentville?
Around Kentville, 107 survey homes were tested and 5.6% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Kentville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kentville A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Kentville flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Kentville; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Kentville at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Kentville since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kentville?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Kentville $0.017 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).