Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainRadon is Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s main hazard: 29% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Some 8.5% of the land within 25 km of Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay has burned since 1986; at 0.23% a year that is moderate, not high. Seismic risk runs low: $0.008 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay grades C+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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.
A moderate wildfire record for Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay: 8.5% within 25 km burned, 18% within 5 km
Past fire around Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.23% of the land a year, Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
56% of the land within 5 km of Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay is forest fuel, close to the 54% 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
In the top quarter in British Columbia: Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay ranks 29th of 256 at 0.23% a year, with Oliver first 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.
Electoral Area D, 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 D, 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 D, Central Kootenay: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Regional District of Central Kootenay and others have studied flooding in areas that include Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay: 2 studies, the latest from 2020.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| RDCK Floodplain and Steep Creek Study Kaslo River | Regional District of Central Kootenay | 2020 | final |
| Duncan and Lardeau Rivers Floodplain Mapping (including Meadow Creek) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1996 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia: 76% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay is among them.
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 D, Central Kootenay between the 1990s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Electoral Area D, 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 D, Central Kootenay: $0.008 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’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
Below the middle in British Columbia: Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s $0.008 against a median of $0.36; Duncan has $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 D, Central Kootenay is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 87% 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 model counts damage to Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s 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).
Radon runs high around Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay: 29% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s area has 29%. Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Kootenay/Boundary health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay, 29% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 7.3% over 600, against a median of 1.8% in British Columbia.
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 Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay; 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.
The survey sampled homes around Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay; 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 Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay, 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)
Get ready for what Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay faces
What to do about the hazards Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- 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 Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay
Is Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 8.5% of the land within 25 km of Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay?
In Health Canada’s survey, 29% of 109 homes tested in Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay $0.008 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Electoral Area D, Central Kootenay; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
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).