Photo: Kiwibirdman · CC BY 3.0Shaking costs buildings in Highlands $0.37 a year per $1,000 of value, 12 times the typical town’s
Fire seldom reaches Highlands: since 1986, 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.005% a year). In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.8% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Highlands a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Highlands’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Highlands: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Highlands faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Highlands grades B− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Highlands’ grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #168 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,706 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 55 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Highlands: 0.2% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km
Past fire around Highlands’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Highlands is 0.005%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest fuel is denser close to Highlands (78% within 5 km) than further out (71% 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
Highlands burns at 0.005% a year, 121st 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Highlands reads low, with 92% of them; only 7.5% 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.
Capital Regional District has mapped flooding for Highlands (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Highlands: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Highlands is Capital Regional District’s, dated 2021; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Regional Coastal Flood Inundation Mapping Project | Capital Regional District | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Highlands 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Highlands’ homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
High seismic risk in Highlands: $0.37 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 12.2 times the typical $0.030: Highlands’ $0.37 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in British Columbia: Highlands’ $0.37 against $0.36; Duncan reaches $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 Highlands: 4.8% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Highlands’ figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Highlands: 1.8% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Highlands: 1.8% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the South Vancouver Island health region, with Highlands one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Highlands is ordinary for towns in British Columbia: 1.8%, beside a median of 1.8%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Highlands with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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 survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Highlands can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Highlands
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Highlands; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Highlands, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Highlands’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands | Low | $0.37 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Central Saanich 18,184 · 7.5 km | Low | $0.86 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Langford 59,664 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.74 | 1.8% | Yes |
| View Royal 12,795 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.91 | 1.8% | Yes |
| East Saanich 2 1,962 · 11 km | Low | $0.81 | 1.8% | Yes |
| New Songhees 1A 2,052 · 12 km | Low | $1.02 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley 5,156 · 12 km | Low | $0.75 | 0.9% | Yes |
Langford burns a little more than Highlands, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Highlands faces
Practical steps for Highlands’ 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Highlands is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Highlands.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Highlands’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Highlands’ figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Highlands
Is Highlands at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Highlands’ low band (0.2% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
Does Highlands flood?
There is flood mapping for Highlands on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Highlands?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Highlands $0.37 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Highlands’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Highlands’ Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Highlands?
The area’s survey found 1.8% of 55 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Highlands.
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).