Photo: K29328 · CC BY-SA 4.0High radon around Creston: 19% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Some 6.1% of the land within 25 km of Creston has burned since 1986; at 0.15% a year that is moderate, not high. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.008 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Creston a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Creston’s hazards
For Creston, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Creston faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Creston grades B− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Creston’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #99 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,582 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Fire reaches the land around Creston: 0% within 5 km, 6.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Creston’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Creston burns at 0.15% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Creston’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 5.5 km out.
Forest thickens with distance from Creston: 21% of the land within 5 km, 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
The land around Creston burns at 0.15% a year, the 44th highest rate of 255 towns in British Columbia; Oliver tops it at 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Creston, and 2.1% sit above it.
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.
Flooding around Creston is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Regional District of Central Kootenay
Flood studies whose area touches Creston, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Creston the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Regional District of Central Kootenay’s in 2020.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| RDCK Floodplain and Steep Creek Study Goat River | Regional District of Central Kootenay | 2020 | final |
| Kootenay River (Kootenay Lake to U.S. Border) Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1981 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Creston is one of the 76% of towns in British Columbia with a flood study on file; across Canada it 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 Creston has come in steps: 2 studies from the 1980s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Creston.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Creston’s homes are at risk.
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 Creston: $0.008 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.
0.3 times the typical $0.030: Creston’s $0.008 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; Creston expects less, $0.008, 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 87% of its 2,611 towns sit above Creston.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Creston is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Creston: 19% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 19% over the guideline, the area around Creston beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the East Kootenay health region, with Creston one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Creston’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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Creston among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Creston, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Creston
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Creston; 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 Creston, 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 Creston
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creston | Moderate | $0.008 | 19% | Yes |
| Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay 5,243 · 2.8 km | Moderate | $0.013 | 19% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C, Central Kootenay 1,672 · 2.9 km | Moderate | $0.023 | 19% | Yes |
Electoral Area C, Central Kootenay burns a little more than Creston, in the same moderate band (moderate here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Creston faces
What to do about the hazards Creston 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
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Creston sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Creston floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Creston, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Creston’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Creston
Does Creston flood?
Creston’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is Creston at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 6.1% of the land around Creston since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Creston?
Around Creston, 105 survey homes were tested and 19% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Creston?
About $0.008 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Creston.
How is Creston’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Creston grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).