Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domain19% of homes tested in Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s area are above the radon guideline
Fire reaches the land around Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay now and then: 5.1% within 25 km since 1986 (0.13% a year), below the high band. Seismic risk runs low: $0.013 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay: C+
Seismic risk and radon set Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #197 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,827 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.
Some fire around Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay: 5.1% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.3% within 5 km
Past fire around Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.13% of the land a year, Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel covers 52% of the land close to Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay and 65% across 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
At 0.13% a year, Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay is near the top in British Columbia: 50th of 255, behind Oliver (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.
Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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.
Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Regional District of Central Kootenay
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
2 studies on the inventory touch Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay, the newest Regional District of Central Kootenay’s from 2020, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| RDCK Floodplain and Steep Creek Study Goat River | Regional District of Central Kootenay | 2020 | final |
| Kootenay River (Kootenay Lake to U.S. Border) Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1981 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay between the 1980s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay.
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.
Little shaking expected in Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay: $0.013 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.013 per $1,000, Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s $0.013 sits under the median in British Columbia, $0.36, and well under Duncan’s $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.
Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 75% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’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).
19% of homes tested around Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay: 19% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay (19%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%); 2.9% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 survey sampled homes around Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the East Kootenay health region
Weather and fire alerts for Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay
Alerts for Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay 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. |
Evacuation orders for Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay | Moderate | $0.013 | 19% | Yes |
| Creston 5,976 · 2.8 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 19% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C, Central Kootenay 1,672 · 5.7 km | Moderate | $0.023 | 19% | Yes |
The fire record around Electoral Area C, Central Kootenay is a touch heavier than Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s, but the band is the same: moderate (here moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay faces
Practical steps for Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay
Is Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s band is moderate, with 5.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay flood?
There is flood mapping for Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay $0.013 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay?
19% of the 105 homes Health Canada tested around Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).