Photo: Ken Eckert · CC BY-SA 4.0High radon around Castlegar: 29% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Little of the land around Castlegar has burned: 2% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.05% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.008 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Castlegar grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Castlegar’s hazards
For Castlegar, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Castlegar faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Castlegar: C+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Castlegar with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #201 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,837 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.
Few fires near Castlegar: 0.1% within 5 km, 2% within 25 km
Past fire around Castlegar’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Castlegar burns at 0.05% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
About as much forest grows next to Castlegar’s homes (68% within 5 km) as across 25 km (72%).
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
At 0.05% a year, Castlegar ranks 71st of the 255 towns in British Columbia; 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, Castlegar 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 Castlegar
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Castlegar: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Castlegar; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Castlegar.
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 Castlegar’s 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.”
Little shaking expected in Castlegar: $0.008 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Castlegar’s $0.008 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.3 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in British Columbia peaks in Duncan ($1.33); Castlegar, at $0.008, is below 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Castlegar than in 87% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Castlegar 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).
Test for radon in Castlegar: 29% of area homes were 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 Kootenay/Boundary health region
At 29% over the guideline, the area around Castlegar beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Castlegar’s area, at 29%, is above the median in British Columbia (1.8%), and 7.3% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One home in five or more tests over the guideline around Castlegar; 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are in that band and 1.5% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Castlegar, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Castlegar
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Castlegar; 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 Castlegar, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Castlegar’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castlegar | Low | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Electoral Area J, Central Kootenay 3,915 · 6.1 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | Yes |
| Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary 1,432 · 9.2 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Electoral Area I, Central Kootenay 2,758 · 13 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | Yes |
Next door, Electoral Area J, Central Kootenay sits in a moderate fire band; Castlegar is low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Castlegar faces
What to do about the hazards Castlegar 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. For Castlegar, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Castlegar takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Castlegar’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Castlegar.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Castlegar
Does Castlegar flood?
Nothing is listed for Castlegar on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Castlegar’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Castlegar grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Castlegar?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Castlegar’s buildings lose $0.008 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Castlegar at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 2% of the land within 25 km of Castlegar has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Castlegar?
In Health Canada’s survey, 29% of 109 homes tested in Castlegar’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).