Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainTignish is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Tignish, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). NRCan expects $0.031 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Tignish, near the typical $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 3.5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Tignish grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Tignish’s hazards
For Tignish, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Tignish faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Tignish grades A− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Tignish with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Tignish: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Tignish’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.001% of the land near Tignish burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Tignish’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 20 km away.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Tignish: 36% within 5 km and 36% 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 13
None of the 13 towns on Prince Edward Island has a burn rate above zero to three decimals; Tignish is no exception.
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 Tignish 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.
Flooding around Tignish is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
Flood studies whose area touches Tignish, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The newest of 2 studies covering Tignish is Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island’s, from 2024; open its map to see the zones.
| 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
Tignish is one of the 100% of towns on Prince Edward Island with a flood study on file; across Canada it 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 Tignish.
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 Tignish $0.031 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Tignish’s $0.031 matches the typical town’s $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle on Prince Edward Island: Tignish’s $0.031 against a median of $0.020, with O'Leary highest 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.
Tignish’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 48% 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 Tignish.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
3.5% of homes tested around Tignish are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A lower share than most: 3.5% of tested homes around Tignish, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Prince Edward Island Health Region, Tignish included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Tignish is ordinary for towns on Prince Edward Island: 3.5%, beside a median of 3.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Tignish; 63% sit higher.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Tignish, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Tignish
Alerts for Tignish 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. |
Evacuation orders for Tignish come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Tignish
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tignish | Low | $0.031 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Miminegash 1,166 · 16 km | Low | $0.032 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Alberton 1,498 · 19 km | Low | $0.034 | 3.5% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Tignish has the most fire on record (low); Miminegash follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Tignish faces
What to do about the hazards Tignish 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 Tignish’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Tignish without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Tignish, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Tignish until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Tignish
Is Tignish at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Tignish since 1986 (last in 2024); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Tignish flood?
A flood study covers Tignish on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Tignish’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Tignish’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Tignish?
Expected earthquake damage in Tignish comes to $0.031 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Tignish?
Around Tignish, 113 survey homes were tested and 3.5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).