Photo: Lkjx8651 · CC BY-SA 4.019% of homes tested in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s area are above the radon guideline
Fire reaches the land around Electoral Area B, East Kootenay now and then: 4.8% within 25 km since 1986 (0.12% a year), below the high band. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay as in most places, at $0.025 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Electoral Area B, East Kootenay grades C for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s hazards
For Electoral Area B, 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 B, East Kootenay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Electoral Area B, East Kootenay grades C for hazard risk
The grade weighs Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Fire reaches the land around Electoral Area B, East Kootenay: 0.4% within 5 km, 4.8% within 25 km
Past fire around Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Electoral Area B, East Kootenay is 0.12%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
There is forest near Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s homes (50% within 5 km) and more of it further out (58% 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 256
Electoral Area B, East Kootenay ranks 51st of the 256 towns in British Columbia for burn rate, at 0.12% a year; Oliver leads with 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.
Moderate puts Electoral Area B, East Kootenay above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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 B, East Kootenay is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Regional District of East Kootenay
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Electoral Area B, East Kootenay: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Regional District of East Kootenay studied flooding in an area that includes Electoral Area B, East Kootenay (2019); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elk River Floodplain Mapping | Regional District of East Kootenay | 2019 | 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 B, 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 is shown for Electoral Area B, East Kootenay to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Electoral Area B, East Kootenay $0.025 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.025 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Electoral Area B, East Kootenay is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s $0.025 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 53% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Electoral Area B, East Kootenay.
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 B, 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).
19% of homes tested around Electoral Area B, East Kootenay are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s area, at 19%. Electoral Area B, East Kootenay doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the East Kootenay health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Electoral Area B, East Kootenay, 19% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 2.9% over 600, against a median of 1.8% in British Columbia.
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 B, 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.
A low area share in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay 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 Electoral Area B, East Kootenay
Alerts for Electoral Area B, East Kootenay come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Electoral Area B, East Kootenay to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Electoral Area B, East Kootenay faces
What to do about the hazards Electoral Area B, East Kootenay 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
- 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 Electoral Area B, East Kootenay.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Electoral Area B, East Kootenay.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Electoral Area B, East Kootenay is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay
Does Electoral Area B, East Kootenay flood?
There is flood mapping for Electoral Area B, East Kootenay on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Electoral Area B, East Kootenay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Electoral Area B, East Kootenay grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay?
Around Electoral Area B, East Kootenay, 105 survey homes were tested and 19% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Electoral Area B, East Kootenay at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 4.8% of the land around Electoral Area B, East Kootenay since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Electoral Area B, East Kootenay $0.025 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).