Radon is Lumby’s main hazard: 17% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Fire seldom reaches Lumby: since 1986, 1.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.03% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.007 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Lumby a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Lumby’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lumby: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lumby faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Lumby: B
The grade weighs Lumby’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Few fires near Lumby: 0% within 5 km, 1.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Lumby’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.03% of the land around Lumby each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Lumby’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 7.3 km out.
Forest fuel covers 42% of the land close to Lumby and 70% 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
Lumby burns at 0.03% a year, 83rd of 256 towns in British Columbia; the leader, Oliver, reaches 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Lumby 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.
Flooding around Lumby is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Lumby: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship and others have studied flooding in areas that include Lumby: 2 studies, the latest from 2025.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shuswap Region Floodplain Maps | Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship | 2025 | final |
| Shuswap River, Bessette and Duteau Creeks Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1998 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Lumby has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Lumby has come in steps: 2 studies from the 1990s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Lumby.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Lumby’s 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.
Little shaking expected in Lumby: $0.007 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Lumby’s $0.007 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.007, Lumby is below the typical town in British Columbia ($0.36); Duncan is highest 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.
Lumby is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 88% of the 2,611 towns 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).
The model counts damage to Lumby’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Lumby: 17% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Lumby: 17% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Lumby, 17% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 2.8% over 600, against a median of 1.8% in British Columbia.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Lumby is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are 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.
The survey sampled homes around Lumby; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Okanagan health region
Weather and fire alerts for Lumby
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Lumby; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Lumby come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Lumby’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lumby | Low | $0.007 | 17% | Yes |
| Electoral Area D, North Okanagan 3,184 · 5.7 km | Low | $0.010 | 17% | Yes |
| Coldstream 11,380 · 18 km | High | $0.013 | 17% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C, North Okanagan 5,029 · 19 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 17% | None listed |
Coldstream has the most fire around it, a high band against Lumby’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lumby faces
What to do about the hazards Lumby 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Lumby until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Lumby’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Lumby’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Lumby without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lumby
Is radon a problem in Lumby?
In Health Canada’s survey, 17% of 109 homes tested in Lumby’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lumby?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Lumby $0.007 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Lumby’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lumby’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Lumby flood?
A flood study covers Lumby on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Lumby at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 1.1% of the land within 25 km of Lumby has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).