Photo: Bernard Samuel Fenn · Public domainEarthquake risk in Mission runs 12 times the typical Canadian town’s: $0.36 per $1,000 a year
Burn scars are few around Mission, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.006% a year). In Health Canada’s survey, just 3% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Mission a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Mission’s hazards
For Mission, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Mission faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Mission grades C+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Mission’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #209 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,850 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Mission: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Mission’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.006% of the land near Mission burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Mission: 49% within 5 km, 48% within 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 255
Mission sits mid-table in British Columbia: 115th of 255 towns, at 0.006% 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Mission 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.
A flood study covers Mission, from Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Mission, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Mission, Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship’s from 2025, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Fraser and Coquihalla Rivers | Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mission 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 Mission.
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.
Shaking is Mission’s costliest hazard: $0.36 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Roughly 11.9 times the typical $0.030: Mission’s $0.36 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Mission runs at $0.36 a year, near the $0.36 of the typical town in British Columbia; Duncan has $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 Mission: 5.6% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Mission is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Mission: 3% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Fraser East health region
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Mission’s area, at 3%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Mission than in most towns in British Columbia: 3% against 1.8%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Mission’s band, which holds 37%.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Mission’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Mission
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Mission; 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 Mission 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 Mission’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission | Low | $0.36 | 3% | Yes |
| Electoral Area G, Fraser Valley 1,808 · 7.5 km | Low | $0.38 | 3% | Yes |
| Electoral Area F, Fraser Valley 1,556 · 11 km | Low | $0.24 | 3% | Yes |
| Abbotsford 175,358 · 11 km | Low | $0.46 | 3% | Yes |
The fire record around Electoral Area G, Fraser Valley is a touch heavier than Mission’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 Mission faces
Practical steps for Mission’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Mission’s included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Mission without grading them.
- 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 Mission until then.
- 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 Mission.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mission
Does Mission flood?
A flood study covers Mission 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 Mission?
The area’s survey found 3% of 100 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Mission.
How is Mission’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Mission’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mission?
Expected earthquake damage in Mission comes to $0.36 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Mission at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Mission’s low band (0.2% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) 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).