Photo: A.Davey · CC BY 2.0Ladysmith has one of Canada’s highest earthquake risks: $0.74 a year per $1,000, 25 times the typical town’s
Burn scars are few around Ladysmith, with 0.3% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.007% a year). In Health Canada’s survey, just 0.9% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Ladysmith grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Ladysmith’s hazards
For Ladysmith, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Ladysmith faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Ladysmith grades B− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Ladysmith’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #133 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,664 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Ladysmith: 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.8% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Ladysmith’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.007% a year keeps Ladysmith in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
70% of the land within 5 km of Ladysmith is forest fuel, close to the 72% 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
Ladysmith sits mid-table in British Columbia: 109th of 255 towns, at 0.007% a year, well behind Oliver (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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Ladysmith stays low, with 92%.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Ladysmith
Flood studies whose area touches Ladysmith, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Ladysmith, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Ladysmith has no flood study on file, though 76% of towns in British Columbia do (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Ladysmith.
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.”
Shaking is Ladysmith’s costliest hazard: $0.74 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.
Roughly 24.7 times the typical $0.030: Ladysmith’s $0.74 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in British Columbia expects $0.36 a year; Ladysmith expects $0.74, and Duncan $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 Ladysmith: 0.5% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Ladysmith 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).
0.9% of homes tested around Ladysmith are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Central Vancouver Island health region
At 0.9% over the guideline, the area around Ladysmith is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ladysmith’s area, at 0.9%, is below the median in British Columbia (1.8%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Ladysmith’s band, which holds 37%.
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, Ladysmith’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Ladysmith
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Ladysmith; 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 Ladysmith, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Ladysmith
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ladysmith | Low | $0.74 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley 2,761 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.55 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Electoral Area G, Cowichan Valley 2,597 · 5.5 km | Low | $0.52 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Nanaimo 7,825 · 13 km | Low | $0.54 | 0.9% | Yes |
The fire record around Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley is a touch heavier than Ladysmith’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Ladysmith faces
Practical steps for Ladysmith’s 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Ladysmith without grading them.
- 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 Ladysmith until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Ladysmith’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Ladysmith, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ladysmith
Is radon a problem in Ladysmith?
The area’s survey found 0.9% of 109 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Ladysmith.
How big is the earthquake risk in Ladysmith?
Expected earthquake damage in Ladysmith comes to $0.74 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Ladysmith flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Ladysmith, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Ladysmith at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Ladysmith’s low band (0.3% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Ladysmith’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Ladysmith B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).