Photo: The Cosmonaut · CC BY-SA 2.5 caEarthquakes are Burnaby Mountain’s biggest hazard: $0.36 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 12 times the norm
Fire seldom reaches Burnaby Mountain: since 1986, 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.004% a year). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Burnaby Mountain grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Burnaby Mountain’s hazards
For Burnaby Mountain, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Burnaby Mountain faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Burnaby Mountain grades B for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Burnaby Mountain’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: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Burnaby Mountain: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Burnaby Mountain’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.004% of the land around Burnaby Mountain each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Burnaby Mountain’s homes came within 14 km, never inside 5 km.
There is forest near Burnaby Mountain’s homes (16% within 5 km) and more of it further out (40% 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 in British Columbia · highest of 255
Burnaby Mountain 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Burnaby Mountain 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.
No flood study is listed for Burnaby Mountain
Flood studies whose area touches Burnaby Mountain, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Burnaby Mountain has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Burnaby Mountain.
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 Burnaby Mountain’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.”
Shaking is Burnaby Mountain’s costliest hazard: $0.36 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.
Burnaby Mountain’s $0.36 is about 12 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Burnaby Mountain’s $0.36 is close to the median in British Columbia, $0.36; Duncan is highest 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.
Only 4.9% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Burnaby Mountain.
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).
For Burnaby Mountain the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Burnaby
0% of homes tested around Burnaby Mountain are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Fraser North health region: radon tests
A lower share than most: 0% of tested homes around Burnaby Mountain, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Burnaby Mountain than in most towns in British Columbia: 0% against 1.8%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Burnaby Mountain with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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 low area share in Burnaby Mountain doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Burnaby Mountain
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Burnaby Mountain; 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 Burnaby Mountain, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Burnaby Mountain
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnaby Mountain | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Lougheed 15,442 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | Yes |
| Montecito 10,734 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Lake City 3,240 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Bainbridge 3,015 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Lochdale 7,463 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Port Moody 38,285 · 4.9 km | Low | $0.32 | 0% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Burnaby Mountain (low); Montecito comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Burnaby Mountain faces
Practical steps for Burnaby Mountain’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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Burnaby Mountain.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Burnaby Mountain.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Burnaby Mountain is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Burnaby Mountain’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Burnaby Mountain
How is Burnaby Mountain’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Burnaby Mountain’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Burnaby Mountain?
0% of the 108 homes Health Canada tested around Burnaby Mountain topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Burnaby Mountain flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Burnaby Mountain (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Burnaby Mountain?
Expected earthquake damage in Burnaby Mountain comes to $0.36 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Burnaby Mountain at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Burnaby Mountain’s band is low, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2022), so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).