Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainRadon is Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s main hazard: 19% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Some 2.4% of the land within 25 km of Electoral Area A, East Kootenay has burned since 1986; at 0.06% a year that is moderate, not high. Earthquake risk in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.029 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Electoral Area A, East Kootenay grades C for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s hazards
For Electoral Area A, East Kootenay, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Electoral Area A, East Kootenay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay: C
Seismic risk and radon set Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Some fire around Electoral Area A, East Kootenay: 2.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.1% within 5 km
Past fire around Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Electoral Area A, East Kootenay is 0.06%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
More forest grows near Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s homes (58% within 5 km) than across 25 km (51%).
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 256
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay sits mid-table in British Columbia: 65th of 256 towns, at 0.06% a year, well behind Oliver (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.
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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.
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay is on the flood map inventory: 3 studies, latest by Regional District of East Kootenay
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Electoral Area A, East Kootenay: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Regional District of East Kootenay and others have studied flooding in areas that include Electoral Area A, East Kootenay: 3 studies, the latest from 2019.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elk River Floodplain Mapping | Regional District of East Kootenay | 2019 | final |
| Elk River and Michel Creek at Sparwood Floodplain Mapping (including Cummings Creek) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1995 | final |
| Elk River near Elkford Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1989 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Electoral Area A, East Kootenay has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Electoral Area A, East Kootenay has come in steps: 3 studies from the 1980s to the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Electoral Area A, East Kootenay.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Electoral Area A, East Kootenay.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay: $0.029 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s $0.029 matches the typical town’s $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in British Columbia peaks in Duncan ($1.33); Electoral Area A, East Kootenay, at $0.029, is below the median of $0.36.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 51% 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 Electoral Area A, East Kootenay 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 Electoral Area A, East Kootenay: 19% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the East Kootenay health region: radon tests
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s area, at 19%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Electoral Area A, East Kootenay than in most towns in British Columbia: 19% over the guideline (1.8% is typical), 2.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Electoral Area A, East Kootenay, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 Electoral Area A, East Kootenay 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 Electoral Area A, East Kootenay
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Electoral Area A, East Kootenay; 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 Electoral Area A, East Kootenay come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Electoral Area A, East Kootenay (moderate), with Sparwood next at moderate.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Electoral Area A, East Kootenay faces
Practical steps for Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Electoral Area A, East Kootenay without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Electoral Area A, East Kootenay, 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. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Electoral Area A, East Kootenay until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay
Does Electoral Area A, East Kootenay flood?
A flood study covers Electoral Area A, East Kootenay on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay?
The area’s survey found 19% of 105 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay.
Is Electoral Area A, East Kootenay at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s moderate band (2.4% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Electoral Area A, East Kootenay $0.029 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Electoral Area A, East Kootenay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Electoral Area A, East Kootenay grades C 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).