Photo: Glen Jackson glen_jackson · CC0Shaking costs buildings in Maple Ridge $0.47 a year per $1,000 of value, 16 times the typical town’s
Little of the land around Maple Ridge has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.003% a year. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Maple Ridge a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Maple Ridge’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Maple Ridge: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Maple Ridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Maple Ridge: B
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Maple Ridge with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #59 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,520 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Maple Ridge has burned: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Maple Ridge’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.003% a year keeps Maple Ridge in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
About as much forest grows next to Maple Ridge’s homes (39% within 5 km) as across 25 km (44%).
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
Some fire is mapped around Maple Ridge (0.003% a year), but it ranks only 191st of 255 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Maple Ridge reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
City of Maple Ridge has mapped flooding for Maple Ridge (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Maple Ridge: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2016 study by City of Maple Ridge covers Maple Ridge, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Alouette and South Alouette Rivers Additional Floodplain Analysis | City of Maple Ridge | 2016 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Maple Ridge 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 Maple Ridge.
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 Maple Ridge $0.47 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Maple Ridge loses $0.47, 15.5 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.47, Maple Ridge 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.
Maple Ridge is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 2.8% rank 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Maple Ridge’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).
0% of homes tested around Maple Ridge are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Fraser North health region
Fewer homes than usual test high around Maple Ridge: 0% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Maple Ridge (0%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Maple Ridge 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Maple Ridge can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Maple Ridge
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Maple Ridge; 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 Maple Ridge, 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 Maple Ridge’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maple Ridge | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Pitt Meadows 20,892 · 7.3 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Anniedale 6,715 · 11 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Langley 163,885 · 12 km | Low | $0.46 | 0% | Yes |
| Clayton Heights 8,961 · 12 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Aloha Estates 13,194 · 13 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | None listed |
| Fraser Heights 17,688 · 14 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Maple Ridge (low); Anniedale comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Maple Ridge faces
What to do about the hazards Maple Ridge 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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Maple Ridge’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Maple Ridge’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Maple Ridge is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Maple Ridge.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Maple Ridge
Is Maple Ridge at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Maple Ridge since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Maple Ridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Maple Ridge’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Maple Ridge?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Maple Ridge’s buildings lose $0.47 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Maple Ridge?
Around Maple Ridge, 108 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Maple Ridge flood?
There is flood mapping for Maple Ridge on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).