Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0Shaking costs buildings in Capilano 5 $0.64 a year per $1,000 of value, 21 times the typical town’s
Burn scars are few around Capilano 5, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.004% a year). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 2.5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Capilano 5 a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Capilano 5’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Capilano 5: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Capilano 5 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Capilano 5 grades C+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Capilano 5’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Capilano 5: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Capilano 5’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Capilano 5 burns at 0.004% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Capilano 5’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 10 km away.
Forest thickens with distance from Capilano 5: 23% of the land within 5 km, 55% 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; Capilano 5, 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Capilano 5 among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
Capilano 5 is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by City of Vancouver
Flood studies whose area touches Capilano 5, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2014 study by City of Vancouver covers Capilano 5, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Vancouver Coastal Flood Risk Assessment | City of Vancouver | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Capilano 5 has one too.
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 Capilano 5.
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.
Shaking is Capilano 5’s costliest hazard: $0.64 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.
Capilano 5’s $0.64 is about 21.2 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
Earthquake risk in British Columbia peaks in Duncan ($1.33); Capilano 5, at $0.64, sits above the median of $0.36.
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 Capilano 5: 0.7% 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 Capilano 5’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).
Radon runs low around Capilano 5: 2.5% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Capilano 5’s area has fewer, 2.5%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Capilano 5 than in most towns in British Columbia: 2.5% 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 Capilano 5 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Capilano 5 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 North Shore/Coast Garibaldi health region
Weather and fire alerts for Capilano 5
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Capilano 5; 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 Capilano 5, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Capilano 5’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capilano 5 | Low | $0.64 | 2.5% | Yes |
| Coal Harbour 10,407 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| West End 30,785 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| West Vancouver 47,929 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.27 | 2.5% | Yes |
| North Vancouver 66,624 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.40 | 2.5% | Yes |
| Davie Village 16,833 · 4.5 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Granville Entertainment District 19,125 · 5.1 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
The fire record around West Vancouver is a touch heavier than Capilano 5’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Capilano 5 faces
Practical steps for Capilano 5’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?
- 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
- 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 Capilano 5 sits in.
- 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 Capilano 5 floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Capilano 5’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Capilano 5’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Capilano 5
Is radon a problem in Capilano 5?
2.5% of the 81 homes Health Canada tested around Capilano 5 topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Capilano 5 at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Capilano 5’s band is low, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2018), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Capilano 5 flood?
Capilano 5’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Capilano 5?
Expected earthquake damage in Capilano 5 comes to $0.64 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Capilano 5’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Capilano 5 C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).