Photo: Jack Borno · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Naramata is higher than in 98% of Canadian towns
With 0.51% of the land around it burning each year, Naramata sits in the high wildfire band (19% within 25 km since 1986). Seismic risk runs low: $0.012 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 17% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Naramata grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Naramata’s hazards
For Naramata, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Naramata faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Naramata: D−
For Naramata, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
A high wildfire band for Naramata: 0.1% within 5 km, 19% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Naramata’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.51% of the land a year, Naramata’s burn rate is high, many times the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Naramata: 61% within 5 km, 59% 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
Oliver burns fastest in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Naramata, at 0.51%, ranks 9th of 256.
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.
Naramata is one of the few of Canada’s 2,610 towns in the high band (1.9%); 0.2% rank very high.
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 Naramata, from Okanagan Basin Water Board: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Naramata, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2020 study by Okanagan Basin Water Board covers Naramata, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Okanagan Mainstem Floodplain Mapping Project | Okanagan Basin Water Board | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Naramata has one too.
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 Naramata.
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.
Low seismic risk in Naramata: $0.012 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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Naramata it is only $0.012, 0.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in British Columbia peaks in Duncan ($1.33); Naramata, at $0.012, is below the median of $0.36.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Naramata is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 84% 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).
For Naramata the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Naramata: 17% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Okanagan health region: radon tests
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Naramata’s area has 17%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Naramata (17%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%); 2.8% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Naramata, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Naramata can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Naramata
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Naramata; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Naramata, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Naramata
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naramata | High | $0.012 | 17% | Yes |
| Electoral Area F, Okanagan-Similkameen 2,149 · 6.7 km | High | $0.019 | 17% | Yes |
| Summerland 12,343 · 7.5 km | High | $0.018 | 17% | Yes |
| Penticton 39,068 · 12 km | High | $0.025 | 17% | Yes |
| Penticton 1 2,147 · 14 km | High | $0.014 | 17% | Yes |
Naramata’s high band tops its neighbours; Penticton is next (high).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Naramata faces
Practical steps for Naramata’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. For Naramata, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Naramata until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Naramata’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Naramata without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Naramata
Is Naramata at risk of wildfire?
Wildfire is Naramata’s main hazard, band high: 19% of the land within 25 km burned between 1986 and 2025.
Is radon a problem in Naramata?
The area’s survey found 17% of 109 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Naramata.
How is Naramata’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Naramata’s Hazard risk grade is D−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Naramata?
About $0.012 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Naramata.
Does Naramata flood?
A flood study covers Naramata on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t 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).