Photo: Zacharycmango · CC BY-SA 4.0Burnaby has one of Canada’s highest earthquake risks: $0.36 a year per $1,000, 12 times the typical town’s
Burn scars are few around Burnaby, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.004% a year). In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical).
What stands out about Burnaby’s hazards
For Burnaby, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Burnaby faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Burnaby isn’t graded for hazard risk yet
The grade weighs Burnaby’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Burnaby has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Burnaby’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Burnaby burns at 0.004% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Burnaby’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 6.8 km off.
There is forest near Burnaby’s homes (9.4% within 5 km) and more of it further out (41% 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 256
Oliver tops the 256 towns in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Burnaby, at 0.004%, comes 144th.
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.
Some fire is mapped around Burnaby, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
Flooding around Burnaby is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by City of Coquitlam
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Burnaby: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
2 studies on the inventory touch Burnaby, the newest City of Coquitlam’s from 2017, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coquitlam, Fraser, Pitt Rivers Floodplain Mapping | City of Coquitlam | 2017 | final |
| City of Vancouver Coastal Flood Risk Assessment | City of Vancouver | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Burnaby 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 mapping is shown for Burnaby to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
High seismic risk in Burnaby: $0.36 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Burnaby loses $0.36, 12 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Burnaby’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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Burnaby: 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Burnaby is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Burnaby: 0% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Burnaby’s area, at 0%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high. Nobody publishes radon tests for Burnaby alone, so this card uses the figure for the Fraser North health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%), the area around Burnaby has fewer high tests: 0%.
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 Burnaby; 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Burnaby’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Burnaby
Alerts for Burnaby 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 Burnaby to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Burnaby
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnaby | Low | $0.36 | 0% | Yes |
| Deer Lake 8,417 · 0.6 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Buckingham Heights 8,794 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Garden Village 6,492 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Holdom 7,976 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Metrotown 36,594 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Bainbridge 3,015 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Deer Lake (low), still no more than Burnaby (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Burnaby faces
What to do about the hazards Burnaby 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Burnaby’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Burnaby, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Burnaby without grading them.
- 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 Burnaby until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Burnaby
Does Burnaby flood?
A flood study covers Burnaby on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Burnaby at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Burnaby since 1986 (last in 2022); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Burnaby?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Burnaby’s buildings lose $0.36 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Burnaby’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Not so far for Burnaby; its Hazard risk letter waits for Canada’s grading run.
Is radon a problem in Burnaby?
Around Burnaby, 108 survey homes were tested and 0% 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).