Photo: Darren Kirby · CC BY-SA 2.029% of homes tested in Kaslo’s area are above the radon guideline
The burn rate around Kaslo is 0.12% a year (4.7% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.007 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Kaslo a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Kaslo’s hazards
For Kaslo, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Kaslo faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Kaslo grades C+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Kaslo’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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Fire reaches the land around Kaslo: 0.4% within 5 km, 4.7% within 25 km
Past fire around Kaslo’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Kaslo burns at 0.12% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The ring nearest Kaslo is the most wooded: 90% forest fuel within 5 km against 57% 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; Kaslo, at 0.12%, ranks 52nd 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.
Kaslo 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.
A flood study covers Kaslo, from Regional District of Central Kootenay: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Kaslo: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Regional District of Central Kootenay holds the flood mapping that covers Kaslo (2020), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| RDCK Floodplain and Steep Creek Study Kaslo River | Regional District of Central Kootenay | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Kaslo 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 Kaslo 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 Kaslo just $0.007 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Kaslo’s $0.007 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.007, Kaslo 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (88%) face more earthquake damage than Kaslo.
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 Kaslo 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).
Radon runs high around Kaslo: 29% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Kaslo’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 Kaslo, 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Kaslo, and 1.5% sit above it.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Kaslo’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Kootenay/Boundary health region
Where to get warnings in Kaslo
Alerts for Kaslo 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Kaslo are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Kaslo faces
What to do about the hazards Kaslo 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. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Kaslo’s included.
- 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 Kaslo sits in.
- 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 Kaslo floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Kaslo.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kaslo
Is radon a problem in Kaslo?
Around Kaslo, 109 survey homes were tested and 29% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kaslo?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Kaslo $0.007 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Kaslo at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 4.7% of the land around Kaslo since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Kaslo’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Kaslo’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Kaslo flood?
Kaslo’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).