Earthquakes are Bainbridge’s biggest hazard: $0.36 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 12 times the norm
Fire seldom reaches Bainbridge: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.004% a year). Radon is lower than usual: 0% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Bainbridge a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Bainbridge’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Bainbridge: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Bainbridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Bainbridge: B
Earthquake risk and radon make Bainbridge’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #35 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,485 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.
Little of the land around Bainbridge has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Bainbridge’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.004% a year keeps Bainbridge in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
The closest burn since 1986 lies 13 km from Bainbridge’s homes, none within 5 km.
37% of the land within 25 km of Bainbridge is forest fuel, yet only 4.3% within 5 km of its homes.
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 255
Bainbridge ranks 144th of the 255 towns in British Columbia for burn rate (0.004% a year), in the lower half; Oliver leads at 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Bainbridge stays low, with 92%.
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 Bainbridge
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Bainbridge: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Bainbridge, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Bainbridge.
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 Bainbridge.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Bainbridge $0.36 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 12 times the typical $0.030: Bainbridge’s $0.36 marks real seismic exposure.
Bainbridge shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Burnaby.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Bainbridge at $0.36 beside a median in British Columbia of $0.36, with Duncan on top at $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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Bainbridge: 4.9% of them.
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 Bainbridge’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 Bainbridge: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Fraser North health region
Fewer homes than usual test high around Bainbridge: 0% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Bainbridge (0%) 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.
Few tests over the guideline: Bainbridge 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Bainbridge can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Bainbridge
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bainbridge; 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 Bainbridge, 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)
Hazards in the places around Bainbridge
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bainbridge | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Lake City 3,240 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Montecito 10,734 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Lochdale 7,463 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Holdom 7,976 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Deer Lake 8,417 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Buckingham Heights 8,794 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Bainbridge (low); Lake City comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bainbridge faces
Practical steps for Bainbridge’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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Bainbridge sits in.
- 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 Bainbridge’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Bainbridge floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Bainbridge’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 Bainbridge
How is Bainbridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Bainbridge grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Bainbridge at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Bainbridge’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2022) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bainbridge?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Bainbridge’s buildings lose $0.36 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Bainbridge?
The area’s survey found 0% of 108 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Bainbridge.
Does Bainbridge flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Bainbridge, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).