Photo: maclean · Public domainA flood study covers Dawson Creek: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from The Corporation of the City of Dawson Creek
Fire seldom reaches Dawson Creek: since 1986, 0.6% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.02% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.012 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Dawson Creek grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Dawson Creek’s hazards
For Dawson Creek, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Dawson Creek faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Dawson Creek grades B+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Dawson Creek’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: #15 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,072 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.
Little of the land around Dawson Creek has burned: 0.5% within 5 km, 0.6% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Dawson Creek’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Dawson Creek at 0.02% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The forest starts beyond town: 0.4% of the land within 5 km of Dawson Creek’s homes is forest fuel, against 7.1% 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
Dawson Creek burns at 0.02% a year, 86th of 255 towns in British Columbia; the leader, 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.
Some fire is mapped around Dawson Creek, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
A flood study covers Dawson Creek, from The Corporation of the City of Dawson Creek: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Dawson Creek, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Dawson Creek is The Corporation of the City of Dawson Creek’s, dated 2020; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Dawson Creek Flood Mapping Final Report | The Corporation of the City of Dawson Creek | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Dawson Creek has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Dawson Creek’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 Dawson Creek: $0.012 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.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Dawson Creek’s $0.012 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Dawson Creek’s $0.012 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.
Dawson Creek is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 84% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Dawson Creek 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 Dawson Creek: 10% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Dawson Creek’s survey area reads 10% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Dawson Creek doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Northeast health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Dawson Creek (10%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%); 0.5% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Dawson Creek sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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.
A low area share in Dawson Creek 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 Dawson Creek
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Dawson Creek; 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 Dawson Creek, 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)
How Dawson Creek’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawson Creek | Low | $0.012 | 10% | Yes |
| Electoral Area D, Peace River 5,100 · 8.0 km | Low | $0.012 | 10% | Yes |
Electoral Area D, Peace River burns a little more than Dawson Creek, 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 Dawson Creek faces
What to do about the hazards Dawson Creek 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
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 Dawson Creek’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Dawson Creek floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Dawson Creek, 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. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Dawson Creek sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Dawson Creek
Does Dawson Creek flood?
Dawson Creek’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Dawson Creek?
Expected earthquake damage in Dawson Creek comes to $0.012 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Dawson Creek?
Around Dawson Creek, 200 survey homes were tested and 10% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Dawson Creek’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Dawson Creek grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Dawson Creek at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.6% of the land around Dawson Creek since 1986 (last in 2024); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).