Earthquakes are New Songhees 1A’s biggest hazard: $1.02 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 34 times the norm
Burn scars are few around New Songhees 1A, with 0.3% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.006% 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 New Songhees 1A a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about New Songhees 1A’s hazards
For New Songhees 1A, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What New Songhees 1A faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in New Songhees 1A: C+
Seismic risk and radon set New Songhees 1A’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 55 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around New Songhees 1A has burned: 0.4% within 5 km, 0.3% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around New Songhees 1A’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.006% of the land a year, New Songhees 1A’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Within 5 km of New Songhees 1A, 14% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 65%.
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
New Songhees 1A sits mid-table in British Columbia: 115th of 256 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, New Songhees 1A 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.
Capital Regional District has mapped flooding for New Songhees 1A (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for New Songhees 1A: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Capital Regional District holds the flood mapping that covers New Songhees 1A (2021), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Regional Coastal Flood Inundation Mapping Project | Capital Regional District | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts New Songhees 1A with 76% of towns in British Columbia; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that New Songhees 1A floods.
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 New Songhees 1A $1.02 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 34 times the typical $0.030: New Songhees 1A’s $1.02 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in British Columbia: New Songhees 1A’s $1.02 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.
Only 0.2% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than New Songhees 1A.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for New Songhees 1A.
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 New Songhees 1A are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 1.8% over the guideline, the area around New Songhees 1A is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. New Songhees 1A doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the South Vancouver Island health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around New Songhees 1A, 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.
Few tests over the guideline: New Songhees 1A shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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, New Songhees 1A’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in New Songhees 1A
Alerts for New Songhees 1A come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near New Songhees 1A are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around New Songhees 1A
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Songhees 1A | Low | $1.02 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Esquimalt 19,512 · 1.9 km | Low | $1.25 | 1.8% | Yes |
| View Royal 12,795 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.91 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Saanich 126,011 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.76 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Victoria 103,888 · 5.5 km | Low | $0.66 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Colwood 22,794 · 5.7 km | Low | $1.09 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Langford 59,664 · 6.7 km | Low | $0.74 | 1.8% | Yes |
The fire record around Langford is a touch heavier than New Songhees 1A’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 New Songhees 1A faces
Practical steps for New Songhees 1A’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, New Songhees 1A’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, New Songhees 1A takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in New Songhees 1A.
- 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 New Songhees 1A.
Questions about flooding and hazards in New Songhees 1A
Is New Songhees 1A at risk of wildfire?
Some, but New Songhees 1A’s low band (0.3% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
How is New Songhees 1A’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
New Songhees 1A’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in New Songhees 1A?
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 New Songhees 1A.
Does New Songhees 1A flood?
The inventory lists a study touching New Songhees 1A; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in New Songhees 1A?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in New Songhees 1A $1.02 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).