Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHazard risk in Kamloops 1 is higher than in 95% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is a real hazard for Kamloops 1: 10% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.26% a year, in the high band. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.009 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. About as many homes carry radon around Kamloops 1 as elsewhere, 6.4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Kamloops 1 grades D for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Kamloops 1’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kamloops 1: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kamloops 1 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Kamloops 1: D
The grade weighs Kamloops 1’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Fire country: 10% of the land within 25 km of Kamloops 1 has burned since 1986, 6.9% within 5 km
Past fire around Kamloops 1’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Kamloops 1 is 0.26%, against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town: the high band.
Forest thickens with distance from Kamloops 1: 33% of the land within 5 km, 49% 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
Oliver burns fastest in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Kamloops 1, at 0.26%, ranks 27th of 256.
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.
Just 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough for the high band where Kamloops 1 sits; 0.2% burn faster.
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 Kamloops 1 is mapped in 4 studies, the newest by Fraser Basin Council
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Kamloops 1: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 4 studies covering Kamloops 1 is Fraser Basin Council’s, from 2020; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thompson River Watershed Base Level Flood Hazard Mapping | Fraser Basin Council | 2020 | final |
| Kamloops | City of Kamloops | 2005 | final |
| North Thompson River (Kamloops to Vavenby) Floodplain Mapping (including Barriere and Clearwater Rivers) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1982 | final |
| South Thompson River (Kamloops to Chase) Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1976 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Kamloops 1 with 76% of towns in British Columbia; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Kamloops 1 has come in steps: 4 studies from the 1970s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Kamloops 1.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Kamloops 1.
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 Kamloops 1 just $0.009 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.3 times the typical $0.030: Kamloops 1’s $0.009 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in British Columbia peaks in Duncan ($1.33); Kamloops 1, at $0.009, is below the median of $0.36.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
86% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Kamloops 1.
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 Kamloops 1’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).
Radon about average around Kamloops 1: 6.4% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Thompson/Cariboo health region
Around Kamloops 1, 6.4% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Kamloops 1 has 6.4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Kamloops 1 is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
One home in Kamloops 1 can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Kamloops 1
Alerts for Kamloops 1 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 Kamloops 1 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 Kamloops 1
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kamloops 1 | High | $0.009 | 6.4% | Yes |
| Kamloops 108,793 · 4.6 km | Moderate | $0.015 | 6.4% | Yes |
Kamloops (moderate) has the heaviest fire record of Kamloops 1’s neighbours, and Kamloops 1 (high) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kamloops 1 faces
What to do about the hazards Kamloops 1 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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Kamloops 1’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Kamloops 1’s.
- 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 Kamloops 1 floods.
- 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 Kamloops 1 sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kamloops 1
Is Kamloops 1 at risk of wildfire?
More than most Canadian towns; Kamloops 1’s high band rests on 10% of nearby land burned since 1986 (most recently 2025).
How is Kamloops 1’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Kamloops 1 grades D for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Kamloops 1?
Around Kamloops 1, 109 survey homes were tested and 6.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kamloops 1?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Kamloops 1 $0.009 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Kamloops 1 flood?
Kamloops 1’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).