Photo: KenWalker · CC BY-SA 4.0Shaking costs buildings in Fairwinds $0.34 a year per $1,000 of value, 11 times the typical town’s
Wildfire is rare near Fairwinds: 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.006% a year. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0.9% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Fairwinds grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Fairwinds’s hazards
For Fairwinds, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Fairwinds faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Fairwinds grades B− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Fairwinds’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #105 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,602 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.
Wildfire is rare near Fairwinds: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Fairwinds’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Fairwinds burns at 0.006% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Fairwinds’ homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 9.8 km away.
There is forest near Fairwinds’ homes (57% within 5 km) and more of it further out (67% 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
In the upper half in British Columbia but far from Oliver (0.98%): Fairwinds ranks 115th of 255, at 0.006% a year.
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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Fairwinds burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Fairwinds
Flood studies whose area touches Fairwinds, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Fairwinds; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Fairwinds has no study, where 76% of towns in British Columbia have one against 58% nationally.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Fairwinds floods.
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 Fairwinds $0.34 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.
Roughly 11.4 times the typical $0.030: Fairwinds’ $0.34 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Fairwinds at $0.34 beside a median in British Columbia of $0.36, with Duncan on top 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Fairwinds: 5.7% of them.
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).
For Fairwinds the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Fairwinds: 0.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Fairwinds’ survey area reads 0.9% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Fairwinds than in most towns in British Columbia: 0.9% against 1.8%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Fairwinds’ band, which holds 37%.
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 Fairwinds 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). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Central Vancouver Island health region)
Where to get warnings in Fairwinds
Alerts for Fairwinds 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Fairwinds are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Fairwinds’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairwinds | Low | $0.34 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Lantzville 4,276 · 7.6 km | Low | $0.50 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Parksville 15,371 · 12 km | Low | $0.49 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area G, Nanaimo 8,412 · 15 km | Low | $0.42 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C, Nanaimo 3,733 · 15 km | Low | $0.44 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Nanaimo 111,845 · 17 km | Low | $0.59 | 0.9% | Yes |
The fire record around Parksville is a touch heavier than Fairwinds’, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fairwinds faces
Practical steps for Fairwinds’ hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- 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 Fairwinds sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Fairwinds, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Fairwinds floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Fairwinds’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fairwinds
Does Fairwinds flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Fairwinds, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Fairwinds’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fairwinds grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Fairwinds?
Expected earthquake damage in Fairwinds comes to $0.34 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Fairwinds at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Fairwinds’ low band (0.2% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Fairwinds?
The area’s survey found 0.9% of 109 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Fairwinds.
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).