Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainFew places are as safe from hazards as New Glasgow: it beats 87% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around New Glasgow, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.020 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in New Glasgow, near the typical $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 3.5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives New Glasgow a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about New Glasgow’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for New Glasgow: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
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
Earthquake risk and radon make New Glasgow’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #4 of 12 on Prince Edward Island and #519 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Wildfire is rare near New Glasgow: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where New Glasgow’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, New Glasgow is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Forest fuel is spread evenly around New Glasgow: 13% within 5 km, 14% 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 on Prince Edward Island · highest of 12
Fire is all but absent around the 12 towns on Prince Edward Island, New Glasgow included.
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.
New Glasgow shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
Flood studies whose area touches New Glasgow, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For New Glasgow the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island’s in 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEI Pluvial Flood Mapping | Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island | 2024 | final |
| Prince Edward Island Coastal Hazards | Province of PEI, Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
100% of towns on Prince Edward Island have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; New Glasgow has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of New Glasgow’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 New Glasgow: $0.020 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.
At $0.020 per $1,000, New Glasgow’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median on Prince Edward Island is $0.020; New Glasgow, at $0.020, is right beside it, and O'Leary 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.
New Glasgow sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 64% expect more shaking damage.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in New Glasgow’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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: 3.5% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Prince Edward Island Health Region
New Glasgow’s area, at 3.5%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
New Glasgow’s area, at 3.5%, is close to the median on Prince Edward Island (3.5%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: New Glasgow shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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 survey sampled homes around New Glasgow; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for New Glasgow
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for New Glasgow; 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 New Glasgow, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around New Glasgow
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Glasgow | Low | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Miltonvale Park 1,279 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.019 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Kingston 1,308 · 13 km | Low | $0.018 | 3.5% | Yes |
| North Shore 2,994 · 17 km | Low | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Cornwall 7,920 · 19 km | Low | $0.019 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Charlottetown 48,118 · 19 km | Low | $0.019 | 3.5% | Yes |
| New London 1,443 · 19 km | Low | $0.021 | 3.5% | Yes |
Nowhere around New Glasgow burns more: Miltonvale Park, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what New Glasgow faces
Practical steps for New Glasgow’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. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around New Glasgow’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; New Glasgow’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around New Glasgow until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for New Glasgow without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in New Glasgow
Is radon a problem in New Glasgow?
3.5% of the 113 homes Health Canada tested around New Glasgow topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does New Glasgow flood?
A flood study covers New Glasgow on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in New Glasgow?
About $0.020 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for New Glasgow.
Is New Glasgow at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around New Glasgow (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is New Glasgow’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
New Glasgow’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).