Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0Bella Bella 1 faces few natural hazards: little fire nearby, low seismic risk, radon over the guideline in 2.5% of tested homes
Little of the land around Bella Bella 1 has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.003% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.061 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Bella Bella 1 grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Bella Bella 1’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Bella Bella 1: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Bella Bella 1 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bella Bella 1 grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Bella Bella 1, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Little of the land around Bella Bella 1 has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Bella Bella 1’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.003% a year keeps Bella Bella 1 in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Fire has stayed at least 5.1 km from Bella Bella 1’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel covers 74% of the land close to Bella Bella 1 and 88% across 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 British Columbia · highest of 256
Some fire is mapped around Bella Bella 1 (0.003% a year), but it ranks only 191st of 256 towns in British Columbia; Oliver has 0.98%.
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 Bella Bella 1 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Bella Bella 1
Flood studies whose area touches Bella Bella 1, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Bella Bella 1, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Bella Bella 1 has no study, where 76% of towns in British Columbia have one against 58% nationally.
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 Bella Bella 1’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.”
High seismic risk in Bella Bella 1: $0.061 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Bella Bella 1 loses $0.061, 2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Bella Bella 1’s $0.061 against a median of $0.36; Duncan has $1.33.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More earthquake risk than most: only 29% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Bella Bella 1.
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 model counts damage to Bella Bella 1’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
2.5% of homes tested around Bella Bella 1 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: 2.5% of tested homes around Bella Bella 1, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Bella Bella 1 has 2.5%.
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 Bella Bella 1; 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Bella Bella 1 as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the North Shore/Coast Garibaldi health region
Weather and fire alerts for Bella Bella 1
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bella Bella 1; 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 Bella Bella 1, 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 Bella Bella 1 faces
What to do about the hazards Bella Bella 1 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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 Bella Bella 1’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. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Bella Bella 1 until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Bella Bella 1 without grading them.
- 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 Bella Bella 1’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bella Bella 1
Is radon a problem in Bella Bella 1?
Around Bella Bella 1, 81 survey homes were tested and 2.5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Bella Bella 1 flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Bella Bella 1’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Bella Bella 1’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bella Bella 1 grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bella Bella 1?
About $0.061 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Bella Bella 1.
Is Bella Bella 1 at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Bella Bella 1 since 1986 (last in 2017); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).