Shaking costs buildings in Lions Bay $0.34 a year per $1,000 of value, 11 times the typical town’s
Little of the land around Lions Bay has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.002% a year. In Health Canada’s survey, just 2.5% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Lions Bay grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Lions Bay’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lions Bay: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lions Bay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Lions Bay: C+
Seismic risk and radon set Lions Bay’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of 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.
Wildfire is rare near Lions Bay: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lions Bay’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Lions Bay’s 0.002% is in the low band.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Lions Bay’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 8.8 km away.
About as much forest grows next to Lions Bay’s homes (83% within 5 km) as across 25 km (80%).
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
Some fire is mapped around Lions Bay (0.002% a year), but it ranks only 230th of 256 towns in British Columbia; Oliver has 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.
Some fire is mapped around Lions Bay, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Lions Bay
Flood studies whose area touches Lions Bay, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Lions Bay on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia, 76% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Lions Bay.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Lions Bay.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Lions Bay $0.34 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.
Roughly 11.3 times the typical $0.030: Lions Bay’s $0.34 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in British Columbia: Lions Bay’s $0.34 against $0.36; Duncan reaches $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 5.8% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Lions Bay.
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 Lions Bay’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).
Radon runs low around Lions Bay: 2.5% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the North Shore/Coast Garibaldi health region: radon tests
Fewer homes than usual test high around Lions Bay: 2.5% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Lions Bay has 2.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Lions Bay shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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 survey sampled homes around Lions Bay; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Lions Bay
Alerts for Lions Bay 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 Lions Bay 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)
How Lions Bay’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lions Bay | Low | $0.34 | 2.5% | None listed |
| Bowen Island 4,501 · 14 km | Low | $0.15 | 2.5% | None listed |
| West Vancouver 47,929 · 14 km | Low | $0.27 | 2.5% | Yes |
| Capilano 5 3,376 · 17 km | Low | $0.64 | 2.5% | Yes |
| Electoral Area F, Sunshine Coast 2,691 · 18 km | Low | $0.22 | 2.5% | None listed |
Electoral Area F, Sunshine Coast burns a little more than Lions Bay, 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 Lions Bay faces
Practical steps for Lions Bay’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
- 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 Lions Bay’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Lions Bay’s 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 Lions Bay until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Lions Bay without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lions Bay
How big is the earthquake risk in Lions Bay?
About $0.34 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Lions Bay.
Is radon a problem in Lions Bay?
The area’s survey found 2.5% of 81 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Lions Bay.
Does Lions Bay flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Lions Bay, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Lions Bay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Lions Bay C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Lions Bay at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Lions Bay’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2019) is short of the level that counts.
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).