High radon around Montrose: 29% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Montrose: 2.7% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.07% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Montrose grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Montrose’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Montrose: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Montrose faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Montrose: B−
The grade weighs Montrose’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.
Fire reaches the land around Montrose: 0.2% within 5 km, 2.7% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Montrose’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.07% of the land a year, Montrose’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
There is forest near Montrose’s homes (56% within 5 km) and more of it further out (71% 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 256
At 0.07% a year, Montrose is near the top in British Columbia: 63rd of 256, 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.
Montrose is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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 Montrose
Flood studies whose area touches Montrose, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Montrose on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Montrose has no flood study on file, though 76% of towns in British Columbia do (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Montrose’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.”
Low seismic risk in Montrose: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Montrose’s $0.006 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Montrose’s $0.006 against a median of $0.36; 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.
Montrose 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 loss is to Montrose’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).
29% of homes tested around Montrose are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Montrose’s area, at 29%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Montrose than in most towns in British Columbia: 29% over the guideline (1.8% is typical), 7.3% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Montrose, and 1.5% sit above it.
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 Montrose 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). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Kootenay/Boundary health region
Weather and fire alerts for Montrose
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Montrose; 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 Montrose, 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)
Hazards in the places around Montrose
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montrose | Moderate | $0.006 | 29% | None listed |
| Fruitvale 2,068 · 4.9 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 29% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Kootenay Boundary 2,008 · 5.1 km | Moderate | $0.007 | 29% | Yes |
| Trail 8,539 · 7.8 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Warfield 1,729 · 12 km | Moderate | $0.011 | 29% | None listed |
| Rossland 4,355 · 15 km | Low | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary 1,432 · 16 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
The fire record around Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary is a touch heavier than Montrose’s, but the band is the same: moderate (here moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Montrose faces
What to do about the hazards Montrose faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Montrose 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 Montrose until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Montrose’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; Montrose’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Montrose
How big is the earthquake risk in Montrose?
About $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Montrose.
How is Montrose’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Montrose B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Montrose at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2.7% of the land around Montrose since 1986 (last in 2021); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Montrose?
Around Montrose, 109 survey homes were tested and 29% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Montrose flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Montrose’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).