Photo: Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada · CC BY 2.0Earthquakes are Cumberland’s biggest hazard: $0.41 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 14 times the norm
For Cumberland, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land 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%. Cumberland grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Cumberland’s hazards
For Cumberland, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cumberland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cumberland grades B− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Cumberland’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: #112 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,620 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.
Wildfire is rare near Cumberland: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Cumberland’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Cumberland, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Cumberland’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 5.8 km off.
More forest grows near Cumberland’s homes (70% within 5 km) than across 25 km (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
To three decimals the burn rate around Cumberland is zero, as for 7 of the 255 towns in British Columbia, while Oliver reaches 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Cumberland is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
No flood study is listed for Cumberland
Flood studies whose area touches Cumberland, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Cumberland; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Cumberland is not yet one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Cumberland’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Cumberland $0.41 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Cumberland loses $0.41, 13.5 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in British Columbia is $0.36; Cumberland, at $0.41, 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 4.3% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Cumberland.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Cumberland.
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 Cumberland: 0.9% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the North Vancouver Island health region: radon tests
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Cumberland’s area has fewer, 0.9%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Cumberland (0.9%) 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.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Cumberland, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
Neighbouring homes in Cumberland can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Cumberland
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cumberland; 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 Cumberland come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Cumberland
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cumberland | Low | $0.41 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Courtenay 32,869 · 8.8 km | Low | $0.39 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Comox 15,884 · 10 km | Low | $0.49 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Comox Valley 8,415 · 11 km | Low | $0.37 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Electoral Area B (Lazo North), Comox Valley 7,830 · 14 km | Low | $0.41 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C (Puntledge - Black Creek), Comox Valley 9,803 · 18 km | Low | $0.38 | 0.9% | Yes |
Electoral Area A, Comox Valley burns a little more than Cumberland, 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 Cumberland faces
What to do about the hazards Cumberland 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Cumberland’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Cumberland.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Cumberland, 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 Cumberland is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cumberland
How big is the earthquake risk in Cumberland?
About $0.41 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Cumberland.
Does Cumberland flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Cumberland’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Cumberland at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Cumberland since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Cumberland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Cumberland B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Cumberland?
Around Cumberland, 106 survey homes were tested and 0.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).