Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0A flood study covers Oxford: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Province of Nova Scotia
Fire seldom reaches Oxford: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.001% a year). Earthquake risk in Oxford is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.021 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Oxford a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Oxford’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Oxford: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Oxford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Oxford: C+
Seismic risk and radon set Oxford’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Oxford: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Oxford’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.001% burned a year, Oxford is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Forest fuel is denser close to Oxford (70% within 5 km) than further out (64% 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 91
Oxford ranks 69th of the 91 towns in Nova Scotia for burn rate (0.001% 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, Oxford 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.
Oxford is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Province of Nova Scotia
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Oxford: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Province of Nova Scotia and others have studied flooding in areas that include Oxford: 2 studies, the latest from 2025.
| 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
88% of towns in Nova Scotia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Oxford has one too.
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 Oxford.
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 Oxford $0.021 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Oxford, $0.021 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Oxford runs at $0.021 a year, near the $0.018 of the typical town in Nova Scotia; Clare has $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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Oxford (63%).
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 Oxford’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).
13% of homes tested around Oxford are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Zone 3 health region: radon tests
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Oxford’s area, at 13%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
3.1% of tests around Oxford 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Oxford 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 share describes the area, not a house: in Oxford as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Oxford
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Oxford; 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. |
For fires near Oxford, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Oxford faces
Practical steps for Oxford’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Oxford’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Oxford sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Oxford’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Oxford floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Oxford
Is Oxford at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Oxford’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Oxford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Oxford’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Oxford?
The area’s survey found 13% of 96 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Oxford.
How big is the earthquake risk in Oxford?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Oxford $0.021 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Oxford flood?
Oxford’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).