Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainOn hazards, Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap comes out behind 96% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is a real hazard for Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap: 13% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.34% a year, in the high band. Seismic risk runs low: $0.010 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon around Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap is ordinary for Canada: 6.4% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap’s hazards
For Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap 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 D, Columbia-Shuswap: D−
Two inputs always count for Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #232 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,551 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
A high wildfire band for Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap: 9.2% within 5 km, 13% within 25 km
Past fire around Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.34% of the land a year, Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap’s burn rate is high, many times the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The ring nearest Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap is the most wooded: 70% forest fuel within 5 km against 65% 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 0.34% a year, Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap is near the top in British Columbia: 23rd 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 D, Columbia-Shuswap 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.
2 flood studies cover Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap, the newest from Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship’s in 2025.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shuswap Region Floodplain Maps | Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship | 2025 | final |
| Salmon River Salmon Arm to Falkland Floodplain Mapping (including Bolean Creek) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1992 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap 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.
The 2 studies touching Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap are spread over time, from the 1990s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap.
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, Columbia-Shuswap: $0.010 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.3 times the typical $0.030: Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap’s $0.010 is low for Canada.
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 D, Columbia-Shuswap expects less, $0.010, 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (86%) face more earthquake damage than Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap.
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).
For Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap: 6.4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 6.4% over the guideline, the area around Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Thompson/Cariboo health region, with Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap has 6.4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
Whatever Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Electoral Area D, 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap | High | $0.010 | 6.4% | Yes |
| Armstrong 5,643 · 14 km | Moderate | $0.020 | 17% | Yes |
| Enderby 3,292 · 15 km | Moderate | $0.017 | 17% | Yes |
| Spallumcheen 5,843 · 16 km | Moderate | $0.016 | 17% | Yes |
Spallumcheen (moderate) has the heaviest fire record of Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap’s neighbours, and Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap (high) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap faces
What to do about the hazards Electoral Area D, 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 D, Columbia-Shuswap.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap
How big is the earthquake risk in Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap $0.010 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap?
Around Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap, 109 survey homes were tested and 6.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap grades D− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap at risk of wildfire?
More than most Canadian towns; Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap’s high band rests on 13% of nearby land burned since 1986 (most recently 2025).
Does Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap flood?
There is flood mapping for Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap 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).