Photo: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazard risk in New Glasgow is lower than in 94% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near New Glasgow: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.001% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.015 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, just 2% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). New Glasgow grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about New Glasgow’s hazards
For New Glasgow, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What New Glasgow faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in New Glasgow: A
Two inputs always count for New Glasgow, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #7 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #261 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near New Glasgow: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around New Glasgow’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.001% of the land a year, New Glasgow’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest thickens with distance from New Glasgow: 64% of the land within 5 km, 79% 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
In the lower half in Nova Scotia: New Glasgow at 0.001% a year, 69th of 90, far from Barrington’s 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 New Glasgow 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.
New Glasgow is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Province of Nova Scotia
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for New Glasgow: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
2 studies on the inventory touch New Glasgow, the newest Province of Nova Scotia’s from 2025, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northumberland Shore Region | Province of Nova Scotia | 2025 | final · not public |
| Northumberland Region | Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs | 2025 | under review · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts New Glasgow with 88% of towns in Nova Scotia; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for New Glasgow.
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.
Low seismic risk in New Glasgow: $0.015 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.5 times the typical $0.030: New Glasgow’s $0.015 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Nova Scotia: New Glasgow’s $0.015 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 72% of its 2,611 towns sit above New Glasgow.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in New Glasgow is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around New Glasgow: 2% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, New Glasgow’s area has fewer, 2%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Nova Scotia is 13% over 200 Bq/m³; around New Glasgow it is 2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
New Glasgow is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% 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.
A low area share in New Glasgow doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Zone 4 health region
Where to get warnings in New Glasgow
Alerts for New Glasgow 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for New Glasgow to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around New Glasgow
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Glasgow | Low | $0.015 | 2% | Yes |
| Trenton 2,499 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.015 | 2% | Yes |
| Stellarton 4,251 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.014 | 2% | Yes |
| Westville 3,731 · 6.6 km | Low | $0.021 | 2% | Yes |
| Pictou County, Subdivision C 8,847 · 6.6 km | Low | $0.014 | 2% | Yes |
| Pictou County, Subdivision B 6,482 · 10 km | Low | $0.013 | 2% | Yes |
| Pictou 3,307 · 11 km | Low | $0.014 | 2% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Trenton (low), still no more than New Glasgow (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what New Glasgow faces
What to do about the hazards New Glasgow 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for New Glasgow’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 New Glasgow.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for New Glasgow is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For New Glasgow, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in New Glasgow
Is radon a problem in New Glasgow?
Around New Glasgow, 99 survey homes were tested and 2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is New Glasgow’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives New Glasgow A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is New Glasgow at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around New Glasgow since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in New Glasgow?
In NRCan’s seismic model, New Glasgow’s buildings lose $0.015 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does New Glasgow flood?
There is flood mapping for New Glasgow on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).