Photo: jasonwoodhead23 · CC BY 2.0A flood study covers Fort St. John: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Fire seldom reaches Fort St. John: since 1986, 1.9% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.05% a year). For earthquakes Fort St. John is middling, $0.016 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Fort St. John a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Fort St. John’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Fort St. John: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Fort St. John faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Fort St. John: B+
The grade weighs Fort St. John’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: #23 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,394 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.
Wildfire is rare near Fort St. John: 1.9% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.5% within 5 km
Past fire around Fort St. John’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.05% a year keeps Fort St. John in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Forest fuel rises from 3.8% within 5 km of Fort St. John to 7.4% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from homes.
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
Fort St. John burns at 0.05% a year, 69th 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Fort St. John 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.
A flood study covers Fort St. John, from Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Fort St. John: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy studied flooding in an area that includes Fort St. John (1985); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peace River BC Alberta Border to Site C Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1985 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Fort St. John included, beside 58% across Canada.
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 Fort St. John 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Fort St. John $0.016 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.5 times the typical $0.030: Fort St. John’s $0.016 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Fort St. John’s $0.016 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Fort St. John than in 71% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Fort St. John’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).
10% of homes tested around Fort St. John 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 Fort St. John’s area, at 10%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Fort St. John than in most towns in British Columbia: 10% over the guideline (1.8% is typical), 0.5% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fort St. John is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Fort St. John only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Northeast health region
Weather and fire alerts for Fort St. John
Alerts for Fort St. John 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. |
Evacuation orders for Fort St. John come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Fort St. John
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort St. John | Low | $0.016 | 10% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C, Peace River 6,344 · 4.4 km | Moderate | $0.011 | 10% | Yes |
| Taylor 1,415 · 13 km | Low | $0.008 | 10% | Yes |
Electoral Area C, Peace River has the most fire around it, a moderate band against Fort St. John’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fort St. John faces
What to do about the hazards Fort St. John 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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Fort St. John’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Fort St. John until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Fort St. John’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 Fort St. John without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fort St. John
How big is the earthquake risk in Fort St. John?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Fort St. John $0.016 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Fort St. John at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 1.9% of the land within 25 km of Fort St. John has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Fort St. John flood?
A flood study covers Fort St. John on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Fort St. John’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Fort St. John B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Fort St. John?
In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of 200 homes tested in Fort St. John’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).