Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Shaking costs buildings in Langford $0.74 a year per $1,000 of value, 25 times the typical town’s
Wildfire is rare near Langford: 0.3% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.008% a year. In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.8% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Langford grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Langford’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Langford: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Langford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Langford: C+
Two inputs always count for Langford, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #182 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,795 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 55 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Langford: 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.1% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Langford’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Langford burns at 0.008% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
The nearer ring around Langford is less wooded (62% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (71%).
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
In the upper half in British Columbia but far from Oliver (0.98%): Langford ranks 104th of 255, at 0.008% a year.
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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Langford among them, though its rate is above zero; 7.5% 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.
Capital Regional District has mapped flooding for Langford (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Langford, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Langford, Capital Regional District’s from 2021, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Regional Coastal Flood Inundation Mapping Project | Capital Regional District | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Langford 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Langford.
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 Langford $0.74 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Langford loses $0.74, 24.7 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.74, Langford is above the typical town in British Columbia ($0.36); Duncan has the most 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.
Only 0.5% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Langford.
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 Langford’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).
Little radon around Langford: 1.8% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Langford’s area, at 1.8%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Langford’s area, at 1.8%, is close to 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.
Langford is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Langford as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the South Vancouver Island health region
Weather and fire alerts for Langford
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Langford; 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 Langford, 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 Langford’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Langford | Low | $0.74 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Colwood 22,794 · 3.2 km | Low | $1.09 | 1.8% | Yes |
| View Royal 12,795 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.91 | 1.8% | Yes |
| New Songhees 1A 2,052 · 6.7 km | Low | $1.02 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Esquimalt 19,512 · 8.0 km | Low | $1.25 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Metchosin 5,207 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.56 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Highlands 2,753 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.37 | 1.8% | Yes |
The fire record around Metchosin is a touch heavier than Langford’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 Langford faces
What to do about the hazards Langford faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Langford’s.
- 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 Langford.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Langford takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Langford’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Langford
Is Langford at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.3% of the land around Langford since 1986 (last in 2024); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Langford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Langford C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Langford flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Langford; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Langford?
Around Langford, 55 survey homes were tested and 1.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Langford?
About $0.74 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Langford.
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).