Photo: Northwest · CC BY-SA 4.0Earthquakes are Edmonds’ biggest hazard: $0.36 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 12 times the norm
Wildfire is rare near Edmonds: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.003% a year. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Edmonds grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Edmonds’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Edmonds: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Edmonds faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Edmonds grades B for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Edmonds’ 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Edmonds: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Edmonds’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.003% of the land near Edmonds burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 7.7 km from Edmonds’ homes, none within 5 km.
Homes in Edmonds sit on open or built-up ground (1.2% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 29%.
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
In the lower half in British Columbia: Edmonds at 0.003% a year, 191st of 255, far from Oliver’s 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, Edmonds 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 Edmonds
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Edmonds: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Edmonds has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Edmonds 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Edmonds’ homes are at risk.
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 Edmonds $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: Edmonds’ $0.36 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Edmonds 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.
Only 4.9% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Edmonds.
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 Edmonds’ 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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Burnaby
0% of homes tested around Edmonds are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Edmonds: 0% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Edmonds’ area, at 0%, is below the median 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: Edmonds 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Edmonds as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Fraser North health region
Weather and fire alerts for Edmonds
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Edmonds; 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 Edmonds, 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 Edmonds
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edmonds | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Buckingham Heights 8,794 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Royal Oak 18,364 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| East Burnaby 17,233 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | Yes |
| New Westminster 92,124 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.43 | 0% | Yes |
| South Slope 8,989 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | Yes |
| Metrotown 36,594 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
Nowhere around Edmonds burns more: Buckingham Heights, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Edmonds faces
Practical steps for Edmonds’ 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Edmonds’ figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Edmonds’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Edmonds.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Edmonds takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Edmonds
How big is the earthquake risk in Edmonds?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Edmonds’ buildings lose $0.36 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Edmonds?
The area’s survey found 0% of 108 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Edmonds.
How is Edmonds’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Edmonds’ Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Edmonds at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Edmonds’ low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2022) is short of the level that counts.
Does Edmonds flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Edmonds, 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).