Photo: Ken Walker · CC BY-SA 3.0Earthquakes are Courtenay’s biggest hazard: $0.39 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 13 times the norm
Around Courtenay, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Courtenay a grade of B−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Courtenay’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Courtenay: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Courtenay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Courtenay: B−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Courtenay with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #110 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,617 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.
Little of the land around Courtenay has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Courtenay’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Courtenay burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 7.4 km from Courtenay’s homes since 1986.
Within 5 km of Courtenay, 37% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 65%.
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
Of the 255 towns in British Columbia, 7 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Courtenay among them; Oliver leads at 0.98% a year.
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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Courtenay is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 7.5% 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.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy has mapped flooding for Courtenay (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Courtenay: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy studied flooding in an area that includes Courtenay (1991); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Courtenay, Puntledge and Tsolum River Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1991 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia: 76% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Courtenay is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Courtenay.
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.
Shaking is Courtenay’s costliest hazard: $0.39 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.39 per $1,000, Courtenay carries roughly 13 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in British Columbia is $0.36; Courtenay, at $0.39, is right beside it, and Duncan tops the list 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.
Only 4.5% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Courtenay.
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 Courtenay’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 low around Courtenay: 0.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Courtenay’s area has fewer, 0.9%. Courtenay shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the North Vancouver Island health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; around Courtenay it is 0.9%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Courtenay is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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 Courtenay as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Courtenay
Alerts for Courtenay 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Courtenay to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Courtenay
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Courtenay | Low | $0.39 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Comox 15,884 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.49 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area B (Lazo North), Comox Valley 7,830 · 5.5 km | Low | $0.41 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Cumberland 4,974 · 8.8 km | Low | $0.41 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Electoral Area C (Puntledge - Black Creek), Comox Valley 9,803 · 12 km | Low | $0.38 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Comox Valley 8,415 · 15 km | Low | $0.37 | 0.9% | None listed |
Electoral Area A, Comox Valley burns a little more than Courtenay, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Courtenay faces
What to do about the hazards Courtenay faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
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 Courtenay’s.
- 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 Courtenay until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Courtenay’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Courtenay without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Courtenay
Is radon a problem in Courtenay?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0.9% of 106 homes tested in Courtenay’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Courtenay?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Courtenay’s buildings lose $0.39 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Courtenay at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Courtenay has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Courtenay flood?
A flood study covers Courtenay on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Courtenay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Courtenay’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).