Photo: The High Fin Sperm Whale · CC BY-SA 3.0Shaking costs buildings in Cultus Lake $0.28 a year per $1,000 of value, 9 times the typical town’s
Wildfire is rare near Cultus Lake: 0.3% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.007% a year. In Health Canada’s survey, just 3% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Cultus Lake grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Cultus Lake’s hazards
For Cultus Lake, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cultus Lake faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cultus Lake grades C+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Cultus Lake, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #201 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,837 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.
Few fires near Cultus Lake: 1.6% within 5 km, 0.3% within 25 km
Past fire around Cultus Lake’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.007% of the land around Cultus Lake each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Forest fuel is denser close to Cultus Lake (56% within 5 km) than further out (49% 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
In the upper half in British Columbia but far from Oliver (0.98%): Cultus Lake ranks 109th of 255, at 0.007% 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.
Cultus Lake is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
Flooding around Cultus Lake is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cultus Lake: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Cultus Lake the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy’s in 1985.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vedder River Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1985 | final |
| Chilliwack River Floodplain Mapping (Vedder River to Slesse Creek ) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1981 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Cultus Lake has one too.
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 Cultus Lake.
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 Cultus Lake $0.28 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.28 per $1,000, Cultus Lake carries roughly 9.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Cultus Lake’s $0.28 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.
Only 6.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Cultus Lake.
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 Cultus Lake 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).
Little radon around Cultus Lake: 3% of area 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, Cultus Lake’s area has fewer, 3%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Cultus Lake alone, so this card uses the figure for the Fraser East health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Cultus Lake (3%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Cultus Lake 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.
A low area share in Cultus Lake doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Cultus Lake
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cultus Lake; 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 Cultus Lake, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Cultus Lake’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cultus Lake | Low | $0.28 | 3% | Yes |
| Tzeachten 13 4,899 · 10 km | Low | $0.28 | 3% | Yes |
| Chilliwack 105,520 · 13 km | Low | $0.31 | 3% | Yes |
| Skowkale 1,114 · 13 km | Low | $0.25 | 3% | None listed |
| Electoral Area E, Fraser Valley 1,748 · 15 km | Low | $0.19 | 3% | Yes |
The fire record around Chilliwack is a touch heavier than Cultus Lake’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cultus Lake faces
What to do about the hazards Cultus Lake 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
- 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 Cultus Lake.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Cultus Lake, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Cultus Lake is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Cultus Lake’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cultus Lake
How is Cultus Lake’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cultus Lake grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cultus Lake?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Cultus Lake’s buildings lose $0.28 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Cultus Lake?
In Health Canada’s survey, 3% of 100 homes tested in Cultus Lake’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Cultus Lake at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.3% of the land within 25 km of Cultus Lake has burned since 1986, the last in 2021, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Cultus Lake flood?
There is flood mapping for Cultus Lake 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).