Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainRadon is Elkford’s main hazard: 19% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Elkford: 5.5% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.14% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. For earthquakes Elkford is middling, $0.027 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Elkford a grade of C; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Elkford’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Elkford: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Elkford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Elkford grades C for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Elkford, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #220 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,213 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Fire reaches the land around Elkford: 0.1% within 5 km, 5.5% within 25 km
Past fire around Elkford’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Elkford burns at 0.14% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
About as much forest grows next to Elkford’s homes (52% within 5 km) as across 25 km (50%).
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
At 0.14% a year, Elkford is near the top in British Columbia: 46th of 255, 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.
Elkford 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.
Elkford is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Elkford: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Elkford, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy’s from 1989, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elk River near Elkford Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1989 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Elkford with 76% of towns in British Columbia; Canada’s share is 58%.
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 Elkford.
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 Elkford: $0.027 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Elkford’s ground: $0.027 against a typical $0.030, 0.9 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Elkford’s $0.027 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 Elkford.
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).
The model counts damage to Elkford’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Elkford: 19% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the East Kootenay health region: radon tests
Elkford’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
Around Elkford, 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.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Elkford, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go higher.
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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Elkford as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Elkford
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Elkford; 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 Elkford, 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)
Get ready for what Elkford faces
What to do about the hazards Elkford 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
- 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 Elkford until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Elkford’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Elkford’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Elkford without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Elkford
Does Elkford flood?
A flood study covers Elkford on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Elkford?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Elkford $0.027 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Elkford at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 5.5% of the land within 25 km of Elkford has burned since 1986, the last in 2023, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Elkford?
In Health Canada’s survey, 19% of 105 homes tested in Elkford’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Elkford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Elkford’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).