Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHigh radon around Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap: 19% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Some 3% of the land within 25 km of Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap has burned since 1986; at 0.08% a year that is moderate, not high. NRCan expects $0.030 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap, near the typical $0.030. Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap grades C for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap grades C for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #221 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,241 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.
Fire reaches the land around Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap: 8.2% within 5 km, 3% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap burns at 0.08% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap: 59% within 5 km, 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 255
At 0.08% a year, Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap is near the top in British Columbia: 59th 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 A, Columbia-Shuswap 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 A, Columbia-Shuswap is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
Flood studies whose area touches Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship’s in 2026.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floodplain Mapping Report: Columbia River (Columbia Lake to Donald) | Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship | 2026 | final |
| Columbia River at Golden Floodplain Mapping (including Kicking Horse River) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1979 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap has one too.
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 A, Columbia-Shuswap between the 1970s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap: $0.030 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.030 per $1,000, Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap’s earthquake risk is the typical Canadian town’s $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.030, Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap is below the typical town in British Columbia ($0.36); Duncan is highest at $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 A, Columbia-Shuswap’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 48% 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 A, Columbia-Shuswap’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).
Radon runs high around Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap: 19% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the East Kootenay health region
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap’s area has 19%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap’s area, at 19%, is above the median in British Columbia (1.8%), and 2.9% 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap, 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 share describes the area, not a house: in Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap; 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 A, Columbia-Shuswap, 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)
Hazards in the places around Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap | Moderate | $0.030 | 19% | Yes |
| Golden 4,433 · 4.5 km | Moderate | $0.044 | 19% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap has the most fire on record (moderate); Golden follows (moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap faces
What to do about the hazards Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap 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. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap
How is Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap flood?
There is flood mapping for Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 3% of the land within 25 km of Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap?
In Health Canada’s survey, 19% of 105 homes tested in Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap’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 A, Columbia-Shuswap?
About $0.030 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap.
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).