Photo: The original uploader was GreenB1983 at English Wikipedia . · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Invermere is higher than in 85% of Canadian towns
Fire reaches the land around Invermere now and then: 5.1% within 25 km since 1986 (0.13% a year), below the high band. Seismic risk in Invermere sits near the middle: $0.046 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is higher than usual: 19% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Invermere a grade of C−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Invermere’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Invermere: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Invermere faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Invermere: C−
The grade weighs Invermere’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: #226 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,417 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Fire reaches the land around Invermere: 0% within 5 km, 5.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Invermere’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Moderate: the land around Invermere burns at 0.13% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Invermere’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 5.8 km out.
The nearer ring around Invermere is less wooded (41% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (62%).
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
The land around Invermere burns at 0.13% a year, the 47th highest rate of 255 towns in British Columbia; Oliver tops it at 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.
Invermere 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.
Flooding around Invermere is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
Flood studies whose area touches Invermere, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Invermere the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship’s in 2026.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floodplain Mapping Report: Columbia River (Columbia Lake to Donald) | Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship | 2026 | final |
| Columbia River: Windermere Lake - Radium Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1982 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Invermere has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2 studies touching Invermere are spread over time, from the 1980s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Invermere.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Invermere’s homes are at risk.
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 Invermere: $0.046 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Invermere’s ground: $0.046 against a typical $0.030, 1.5 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Invermere’s $0.046 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.
31% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Invermere, which places it in the upper third.
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 Invermere’s 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).
19% of homes tested around Invermere are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the East Kootenay health region
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Invermere’s area has 19%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Invermere’s area, at 19%, is above the median in British Columbia (1.8%), and 2.9% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Invermere, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 Invermere 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 Invermere
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Invermere; 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 Invermere, 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 Invermere
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Invermere | Moderate | $0.046 | 19% | Yes |
| Radium Hot Springs 1,489 · 14 km | Moderate | $0.037 | 19% | Yes |
| Electoral Area F, East Kootenay 3,893 · 14 km | Moderate | $0.033 | 19% | Yes |
The fire record around Electoral Area F, East Kootenay is a touch heavier than Invermere’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 Invermere faces
What to do about the hazards Invermere 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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Invermere takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Invermere’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Invermere’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Invermere.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Invermere
Is Invermere at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 5.1% of the land within 25 km of Invermere has burned since 1986, the last in 2024, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Invermere’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Invermere’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Invermere?
In Health Canada’s survey, 19% of 105 homes tested in Invermere’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Invermere flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Invermere; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Invermere?
Expected earthquake damage in Invermere comes to $0.046 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).