Photo: Verne Equinox · CC BY-SA 3.0Westville faces fewer hazards than 88% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near Westville: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.001% a year. For earthquakes Westville is middling, $0.021 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is lower than usual: 2% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Westville grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Westville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Westville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Westville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Westville grades A for hazard risk
For Westville, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #13 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #483 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.
Little of the land around Westville has burned: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Westville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.001% burned a year, Westville is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
The nearer ring around Westville is less wooded (68% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (80%).
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: Westville 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Westville 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.
A flood study covers Westville, from Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Westville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Westville is Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs’s, dated 2025; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northumberland Region | Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs | 2025 | under review · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Westville 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Westville.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Westville: $0.021 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Westville’s ground: $0.021 against a typical $0.030, 0.7 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Nova Scotia is $0.018; Westville, at $0.021, is right beside it, and Clare tops the list at $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.
Middle of the pack: 63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Westville.
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 Westville’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).
Little radon around Westville: 2% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Westville’s area, at 2%. Westville doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Zone 4 health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Nova Scotia (13%), the area around Westville has fewer high tests: 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 Westville’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.
One home in Westville can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Westville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Westville; 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 Westville, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Westville
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westville | Low | $0.021 | 2% | Yes |
| Pictou County, Subdivision B 6,482 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 2% | Yes |
| Stellarton 4,251 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.014 | 2% | Yes |
| New Glasgow 10,378 · 6.6 km | Low | $0.015 | 2% | Yes |
| Trenton 2,499 · 9.1 km | Low | $0.015 | 2% | Yes |
| Pictou County, Subdivision C 8,847 · 12 km | Low | $0.014 | 2% | Yes |
| Pictou 3,307 · 14 km | Low | $0.014 | 2% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Pictou County, Subdivision B (low), still no more than Westville (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Westville faces
Practical steps for Westville’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
- 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 Westville.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Westville’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Westville’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Westville takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Westville
Does Westville flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Westville; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Westville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Westville’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Westville at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Westville’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2023), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Westville?
2% of the 99 homes Health Canada tested around Westville topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Westville?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Westville $0.021 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).