Photo: Muskwatch · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Bella Coola 1: 1 on record, latest by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Wildfire is rare near Bella Coola 1: 0.3% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.008% a year. NRCan expects $0.030 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Bella Coola 1, near the typical $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 2.5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Bella Coola 1 a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Bella Coola 1’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Bella Coola 1: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Bella Coola 1 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Bella Coola 1 grades A− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Bella Coola 1, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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 Bella Coola 1 has burned: 0.6% within 5 km, 0.3% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Bella Coola 1’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.008% a year keeps Bella Coola 1 in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
More forest grows near Bella Coola 1’s homes (71% within 5 km) than across 25 km (46%).
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
In the upper half in British Columbia but far from Oliver (0.98%): Bella Coola 1 ranks 104th of 256, at 0.008% a year.
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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Bella Coola 1 reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy has mapped flooding for Bella Coola 1 (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Bella Coola 1: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Bella Coola 1 the inventory points to Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy’s 1989 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bella Coola River Floodplain Mapping (including Salloomt and Nusatsum Rivers; Thorsen, Burnt Bridge, and Nooklikonnik Creeks) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1989 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Bella Coola 1 is one of the 76% of towns in British Columbia 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 Bella Coola 1.
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 Bella Coola 1: $0.030 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Bella Coola 1’s $0.030 is the typical figure ($0.030): ordinary ground for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Bella Coola 1’s $0.030 sits under the median in British Columbia, $0.36, and well under Duncan’s $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.
Bella Coola 1 sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 48% 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).
The loss is to Bella Coola 1’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 Bella Coola 1: 2.5% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the North Shore/Coast Garibaldi health region
Fewer homes than usual test high around Bella Coola 1: 2.5% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Bella Coola 1 (2.5%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%).
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 Coola 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 Coola 1 as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Bella Coola 1
Alerts for Bella Coola 1 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Bella Coola 1 to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Bella Coola 1 faces
What to do about the hazards Bella Coola 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Coola 1’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Bella Coola 1 takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Bella Coola 1.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Bella Coola 1’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bella Coola 1
Does Bella Coola 1 flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Bella Coola 1; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Bella Coola 1’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bella Coola 1 grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Bella Coola 1 at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.3% of the land around Bella Coola 1 since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bella Coola 1?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Bella Coola 1 $0.030 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Bella Coola 1?
Around Bella Coola 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.
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).