High radon around Fruitvale: 29% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Fire reaches the land around Fruitvale now and then: 2.3% within 25 km since 1986 (0.06% a year), below the high band. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.010 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Fruitvale a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Fruitvale’s hazards
For Fruitvale, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Fruitvale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Fruitvale grades C+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Fruitvale with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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.
Some fire around Fruitvale: 2.3% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.1% within 5 km
Past fire around Fruitvale’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Fruitvale burns at 0.06% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
69% of the land within 5 km of Fruitvale is forest fuel, close to the 72% 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
In the upper half in British Columbia but far from Oliver (0.98%): Fruitvale ranks 67th of 256, at 0.06% 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.
Moderate puts Fruitvale 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.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy has mapped flooding for Fruitvale (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Fruitvale: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 1990 study by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy covers Fruitvale, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beaver Creek: Beaver Falls to Meadows Floodplain Mapping (including Archibald and Marsh creeks) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1990 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Fruitvale is one of the 76% of towns in British Columbia with a flood study on file; across Canada it 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 Fruitvale.
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.
Low seismic risk in Fruitvale: $0.010 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Fruitvale’s $0.010 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.3 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.010, Fruitvale is below the typical town in British Columbia ($0.36); Duncan is highest 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 86% of its 2,611 towns sit above Fruitvale.
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 Fruitvale 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).
29% of homes tested around Fruitvale are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Fruitvale’s survey area reads 29% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Fruitvale, 29% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 7.3% 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 home in five or more tests over the guideline around Fruitvale; 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are in that band and 1.5% 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.
A low area share in Fruitvale 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). · Data for radon tests covers the Kootenay/Boundary health region
Where to get warnings in Fruitvale
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Fruitvale; 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 Fruitvale, 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)
Hazards in the places around Fruitvale
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fruitvale | Moderate | $0.010 | 29% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Kootenay Boundary 2,008 · 1.5 km | Moderate | $0.007 | 29% | Yes |
| Montrose 1,072 · 4.9 km | Moderate | $0.006 | 29% | None listed |
| Trail 8,539 · 11 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Warfield 1,729 · 15 km | Moderate | $0.011 | 29% | None listed |
| Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary 1,432 · 15 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Rossland 4,355 · 18 km | Low | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
The fire record around Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary is a touch heavier than Fruitvale’s, but the band is the same: moderate (here moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fruitvale faces
What to do about the hazards Fruitvale 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Fruitvale’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Fruitvale.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Fruitvale takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Fruitvale, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fruitvale
How is Fruitvale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fruitvale’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Fruitvale?
In Health Canada’s survey, 29% of 109 homes tested in Fruitvale’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Fruitvale flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Fruitvale; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Fruitvale?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Fruitvale $0.010 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Fruitvale at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 2.3% of the land within 25 km of Fruitvale has burned since 1986, the last in 2021, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
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).