Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainPictou County, Subdivision C faces fewer hazards than 95% of Canadian towns
Fire seldom reaches Pictou County, Subdivision C: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.001% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.014 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Pictou County, Subdivision C grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Pictou County, Subdivision C’s hazards
For Pictou County, Subdivision C, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Pictou County, Subdivision C faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Pictou County, Subdivision C grades A+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Pictou County, Subdivision C’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #3 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #247 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.
Little of the land around Pictou County, Subdivision C has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Pictou County, Subdivision C’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.001% of the land around Pictou County, Subdivision C each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Pictou County, Subdivision C: 79% within 5 km, 77% 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
Pictou County, Subdivision C ranks 69th of the 90 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Pictou County, Subdivision C among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
Flooding around Pictou County, Subdivision C is mapped in 3 studies, the newest by Province of Nova Scotia
Flood studies whose area touches Pictou County, Subdivision C, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Province of Nova Scotia and others have studied flooding in areas that include Pictou County, Subdivision C: 3 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 |
| Eastern Shore Flood Mapping Area | Province of Nova Scotia | 2024 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
88% of towns in Nova Scotia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Pictou County, Subdivision C has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Pictou County, Subdivision C’s homes are at risk.
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.
Little shaking expected in Pictou County, Subdivision C: $0.014 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Pictou County, Subdivision C it is only $0.014, 0.5 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Nova Scotia peaks in Clare ($0.034); Pictou County, Subdivision C, at $0.014, is below the median of $0.018.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Pictou County, Subdivision C is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 73% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Pictou County, Subdivision C.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
2% of homes tested around Pictou County, Subdivision C are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Pictou County, Subdivision C’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 Pictou County, Subdivision C it is 2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Pictou County, Subdivision C’s band, which holds 37%.
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 Pictou County, Subdivision C 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 Pictou County, Subdivision C
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Pictou County, Subdivision C; 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 Pictou County, Subdivision C, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Pictou County, Subdivision C
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pictou County, Subdivision C | Low | $0.014 | 2% | Yes |
| Trenton 2,499 · 6.5 km | Low | $0.015 | 2% | Yes |
| New Glasgow 10,378 · 6.6 km | Low | $0.015 | 2% | Yes |
| Stellarton 4,251 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.014 | 2% | Yes |
| Westville 3,731 · 12 km | Low | $0.021 | 2% | Yes |
| Pictou County, Subdivision B 6,482 · 15 km | Low | $0.013 | 2% | Yes |
| Pictou 3,307 · 16 km | Low | $0.014 | 2% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Pictou County, Subdivision C (low), with Trenton next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Pictou County, Subdivision C faces
Practical steps for Pictou County, Subdivision C’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Pictou County, Subdivision C’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Pictou County, Subdivision C, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Pictou County, Subdivision C.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Pictou County, Subdivision C is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pictou County, Subdivision C
Does Pictou County, Subdivision C flood?
There is flood mapping for Pictou County, Subdivision C on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Pictou County, Subdivision C?
The area’s survey found 2% of 99 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Pictou County, Subdivision C.
Is Pictou County, Subdivision C at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Pictou County, Subdivision C’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
How is Pictou County, Subdivision C’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Pictou County, Subdivision C grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pictou County, Subdivision C?
About $0.014 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Pictou County, Subdivision C.
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).