Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Shaking costs buildings in Metchosin $0.56 a year per $1,000 of value, 19 times the typical town’s
Burn scars are few around Metchosin, with 0.4% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.009% a year). Radon is lower than usual: 1.8% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Metchosin a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Metchosin’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Metchosin: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Metchosin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Metchosin grades C+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Metchosin’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #176 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,774 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 55 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Metchosin: 0.4% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Metchosin’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Metchosin burns at 0.009% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Metchosin’s homes came within 12 km, never inside 5 km.
About as much forest grows next to Metchosin’s homes (71% within 5 km) as across 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
Metchosin sits mid-table in British Columbia: 100th of 255 towns, at 0.009% a year, well behind Oliver (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, Metchosin 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.
A flood study covers Metchosin, from Capital Regional District: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Metchosin, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Metchosin is Capital Regional District’s, dated 2021; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Regional Coastal Flood Inundation Mapping Project | Capital Regional District | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Metchosin 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Metchosin’s homes are at risk.
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 Metchosin $0.56 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 18.6 times the typical $0.030: Metchosin’s $0.56 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in British Columbia: Metchosin’s $0.56 against a median of $0.36, with Duncan 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.
Metchosin is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 1% 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).
The loss is to Metchosin’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
1.8% of homes tested around Metchosin are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Metchosin’s survey area reads 1.8% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Metchosin, 1.8% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as 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.
Under 5% puts Metchosin with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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 Metchosin as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the South Vancouver Island health region
Weather and fire alerts for Metchosin
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Metchosin; 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 Metchosin 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 Metchosin’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metchosin | Low | $0.56 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Colwood 22,794 · 7.2 km | Low | $1.09 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Langford 59,664 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.74 | 1.8% | Yes |
| View Royal 12,795 · 12 km | Low | $0.91 | 1.8% | Yes |
| New Songhees 1A 2,052 · 13 km | Low | $1.02 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Sooke 17,248 · 13 km | Low | $0.70 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Esquimalt 19,512 · 13 km | Low | $1.25 | 1.8% | Yes |
The fire record around Sooke is a touch heavier than Metchosin’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 Metchosin faces
Practical steps for Metchosin’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?
- 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
- 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 Metchosin until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Metchosin’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Metchosin without grading them.
- 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 Metchosin’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Metchosin
How big is the earthquake risk in Metchosin?
Expected earthquake damage in Metchosin comes to $0.56 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Metchosin flood?
A flood study covers Metchosin on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Metchosin?
The area’s survey found 1.8% of 55 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Metchosin.
Is Metchosin at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Metchosin’s low band (0.4% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
How is Metchosin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Metchosin’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).