Photo: Reg Natarajan from Vancouver, Canada · CC BY 2.0Earthquake risk in Langley runs 18 times the typical Canadian town’s: $0.54 per $1,000 a year
Fire seldom reaches Langley: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.002% a year). In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Langley a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Langley’s hazards
For Langley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Langley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Langley grades B for hazard risk
The grade weighs Langley’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #94 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,561 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 70 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Langley: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Langley’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Langley burns at 0.002% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Langley’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 22 km away.
Forest fuel rises from 2.9% within 5 km of Langley to 16% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from homes.
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
Langley ranks 230th of the 255 towns in British Columbia for burn rate (0.002% a year), in the lower half; Oliver leads at 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.
Langley is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
Flooding around Langley is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by City of Langley
Flood studies whose area touches Langley, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Langley the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently City of Langley’s in 2022.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicomekl River Floodplain Mapping | City of Langley | 2022 | final |
| Serpentine & Nicomekl River Climate Change Floodplain Review Phase 2 | City of Surrey | 2015 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Langley 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.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Langley between the 2010s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Langley.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Langley.
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.
High seismic risk in Langley: $0.54 per $1,000 of buildings 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; Langley loses $0.54, 17.9 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.54, Langley 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Langley: 1.1% 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).
For Langley the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
0% of homes tested around Langley are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Langley’s survey area reads 0% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Langley doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Fraser South health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; around Langley it is 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Langley; 63% sit 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Langley, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Langley
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Langley; 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 Langley, 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 Langley’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Langley | Low | $0.54 | 0% | Yes |
| Sunrise Estates 4,292 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Langley 163,885 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.46 | 0% | Yes |
| Rosewood Park 9,004 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Aloha Estates 13,194 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | None listed |
| Clayton Heights 8,961 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Cloverdale 13,615 · 4.9 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
Cloverdale burns a little more than Langley, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Langley faces
What to do about the hazards Langley 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
- 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 Langley.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Langley without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Langley’s included.
- 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 Langley until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Langley
How big is the earthquake risk in Langley?
Expected earthquake damage in Langley comes to $0.54 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Langley flood?
A flood study covers Langley on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Langley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Langley’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Langley?
Around Langley, 70 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Langley at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Langley since 1986 (last in 2022); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).