Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domain29% of homes tested in Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay’s area are above the radon guideline
Some 9.5% of the land within 25 km of Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay has burned since 1986; at 0.24% a year that is moderate, not high. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Electoral Area H, 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 H, Central Kootenay grades B− for hazard risk
For Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #170 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,715 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Fire reaches the land around Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay: 7.9% within 5 km, 9.5% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay burns at 0.24% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The ring nearest Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay is the most wooded: 81% forest fuel within 5 km against 63% 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 255
Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay ranks 28th of the 255 towns in British Columbia for burn rate, at 0.24% a year; Oliver leads with 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.
Moderate puts Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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 H, Central Kootenay is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Regional District of Central Kootenay
Flood studies whose area touches Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Electoral Area H, 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, Slocan River | Regional District of Central Kootenay | 2020 | final |
| Slocan River Floodplain Mapping (including Little Slocan River and Lemon Creek) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1990 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay with 76% of towns in British Columbia; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay has come in steps: 2 studies from the 1990s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay.
Flood mapping is shown for Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay 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.
Low seismic risk in Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay it is only $0.006, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in British Columbia expects $0.36 a year in shaking damage; Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay expects less, $0.006, and Duncan the most, $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 H, Central Kootenay is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 88% 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 H, 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).
29% of homes tested around Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay’s area, at 29%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. Nobody publishes radon tests for Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay alone, so this card uses the figure for the Kootenay/Boundary health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay (29%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%); 7.3% went over 600.
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 H, 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 H, 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 H, Central Kootenay
Alerts for Electoral Area H, 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay faces
Practical steps for Electoral Area H, 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay 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 Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay
Is radon a problem in Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay?
The area’s survey found 29% of 109 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay.
How big is the earthquake risk in Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay?
Expected earthquake damage in Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay comes to $0.006 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay’s moderate band (9.5% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay flood?
A flood study covers Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay B−, 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).