Photo: LN? from Canada · CC BY 2.0Coldstream faces more hazards than 95% of Canadian towns
Fire is a regular visitor: 11% of the land within 25 km of Coldstream has burned since 1986 (0.29% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.013 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 17% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Coldstream grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Coldstream’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Coldstream: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Coldstream faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Coldstream grades D− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Coldstream, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #230 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,544 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.
1.2% of the land near Coldstream’s homes has burned since 1986, 11% within 25 km
Past fire around Coldstream’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Coldstream is 0.29%, against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town: the high band.
Forest fuel covers 41% of the land close to Coldstream and 60% 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
Oliver burns fastest in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Coldstream, at 0.29%, ranks 25th of 255.
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.
Coldstream is one of the few of Canada’s 2,610 towns in the high band (1.9%); 0.2% rank very high.
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.
Okanagan Basin Water Board has mapped flooding for Coldstream (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Coldstream: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Coldstream, Okanagan Basin Water Board’s from 2020, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Okanagan Mainstem Floodplain Mapping Project | Okanagan Basin Water Board | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia: 76% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Coldstream is among them.
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 Coldstream.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Coldstream just $0.013 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Coldstream’s $0.013 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.4 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Coldstream’s $0.013 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (75%) face more earthquake damage than Coldstream.
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 Coldstream’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).
Test for radon in Coldstream: 17% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Okanagan health region: radon tests
At 17% over the guideline, the area around Coldstream beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Coldstream than in most towns in British Columbia: 17% over the guideline (1.8% is typical), 2.8% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Coldstream, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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 Coldstream; 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 Coldstream
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Coldstream; 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 Coldstream, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Coldstream’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coldstream | High | $0.013 | 17% | Yes |
| Vernon 49,527 · 5.7 km | High | $0.014 | 17% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C, North Okanagan 5,029 · 6.5 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 17% | None listed |
| Electoral Area B, North Okanagan 3,415 · 8.7 km | High | $0.012 | 17% | Yes |
| Okanagan (Part) 1 3,482 · 15 km | High | $0.011 | 17% | Yes |
| Lumby 2,257 · 18 km | Low | $0.007 | 17% | Yes |
The fire record around Okanagan (Part) 1 is a touch heavier than Coldstream’s, but the band is the same: high (here high).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Coldstream faces
What to do about the hazards Coldstream 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
- 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 Coldstream’s.
- 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 Coldstream.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Coldstream is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Coldstream’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Coldstream
How is Coldstream’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Coldstream’s Hazard risk grade is D−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Coldstream?
In Health Canada’s survey, 17% of 109 homes tested in Coldstream’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Coldstream at risk of wildfire?
Yes, by Canadian standards: Coldstream’s band is high, with 11% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire counts against its Risk grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Coldstream?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Coldstream $0.013 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Coldstream flood?
There is flood mapping for Coldstream on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).