Photo: Ferdilouw · CC BY-SA 4.0Keremeos faces more hazards than almost every Canadian town
Wildfire is a real hazard for Keremeos: 37% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.95% a year, in the high band. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Keremeos as in most places, at $0.049 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 17% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Keremeos a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Keremeos’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Keremeos: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Keremeos faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Keremeos grades D− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Keremeos with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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: 37% of the land within 25 km of Keremeos has burned since 1986, 21% within 5 km
Past fire around Keremeos’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
High: the land around Keremeos burns at 0.95% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel covers 26% of the land close to Keremeos and 37% across 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; Keremeos, at 0.95%, ranks 3rd 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 Keremeos 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.
A flood study covers Keremeos, from Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Keremeos: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 1995 study by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy covers Keremeos, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Similkameen River at Keremeos Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1995 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Keremeos 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 Keremeos’ 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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Keremeos: $0.049 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.049 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Keremeos is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Keremeos’ $0.049 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.
Keremeos sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 31% are higher.
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 Keremeos’ 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 runs high around Keremeos: 17% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A higher share than most: 17% of tested homes around Keremeos, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Keremeos doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Okanagan health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Keremeos (17%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%); 2.8% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Keremeos, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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 survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Keremeos 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 Keremeos
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Keremeos; 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 Keremeos, 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)
How Keremeos’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keremeos | High | $0.049 | 17% | Yes |
| Electoral Area B, Okanagan-Similkameen 1,190 · 8.3 km | Very high | $0.024 | 17% | Yes |
| Electoral Area G, Okanagan-Similkameen 2,402 · 11 km | High | $0.017 | 17% | Yes |
The heaviest fire record nearby is Electoral Area B, Okanagan-Similkameen’s, very high to Keremeos’ high.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Keremeos faces
What to do about the hazards Keremeos 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 Keremeos’ homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Keremeos until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Keremeos without grading them.
- 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 Keremeos’.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Keremeos
Is Keremeos at risk of wildfire?
More than most Canadian towns; Keremeos’ high band rests on 37% of nearby land burned since 1986 (most recently 2025).
How is Keremeos’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Keremeos grades D− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Keremeos?
Around Keremeos, 109 survey homes were tested and 17% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Keremeos?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Keremeos’ buildings lose $0.049 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Keremeos flood?
A flood study covers Keremeos on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).