Photo: Miranda.Kopetzky · CC BY-SA 4.0Earthquakes are North Vancouver’s biggest hazard: $0.40 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 13 times the norm
Little of the land around North Vancouver has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.004% a year. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 2.5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. North Vancouver grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about North Vancouver’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for North Vancouver: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What North Vancouver faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in North Vancouver: C+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like North Vancouver with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #199 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,830 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around North Vancouver has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around North Vancouver’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around North Vancouver burns at 0.004% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to North Vancouver’s homes came within 13 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest fuel covers 32% of the land close to North Vancouver and 54% across 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
Some fire is mapped around North Vancouver (0.004% a year), but it ranks only 144th of 255 towns in British Columbia; Oliver has 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, North Vancouver 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.
2 flood studies cover North Vancouver, the newest from City of Vancouver
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for North Vancouver: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
City of Vancouver and others have studied flooding in areas that include North Vancouver: 2 studies, the latest from 2014.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Vancouver Coastal Flood Risk Assessment | City of Vancouver | 2014 | final |
| Seymour River at North Vancouver Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1995 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts North Vancouver 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.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for North Vancouver between the 1990s and the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching North Vancouver.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for North Vancouver.
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 North Vancouver’s costliest hazard: $0.40 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; North Vancouver loses $0.40, 13.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
North Vancouver’s $0.40 is close to the median in British Columbia, $0.36; Duncan is 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 4.4% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than North Vancouver.
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 North Vancouver’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).
2.5% of homes tested around North Vancouver are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
North Vancouver’s area, at 2.5%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around North Vancouver has 2.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
North Vancouver is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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 survey sampled homes around North Vancouver; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the North Shore/Coast Garibaldi health region
Weather and fire alerts for North Vancouver
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for North Vancouver; 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 North Vancouver, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around North Vancouver
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Vancouver | Low | $0.40 | 2.5% | Yes |
| North Vancouver 97,845 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.39 | 2.5% | Yes |
| Capilano 5 3,376 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.64 | 2.5% | Yes |
| Strathcona 13,783 · 4.8 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Coal Harbour 10,407 · 5.1 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Grandview-Woodland 28,119 · 5.2 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Yaletown 40,297 · 5.5 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
Among its neighbours North Vancouver has the most fire on record (low); North Vancouver follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what North Vancouver faces
What to do about the hazards North Vancouver faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as North Vancouver’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of North Vancouver’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. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in North Vancouver floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region North Vancouver sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in North Vancouver
Is radon a problem in North Vancouver?
Around North Vancouver, 81 survey homes were tested and 2.5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does North Vancouver flood?
North Vancouver’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in North Vancouver?
In NRCan’s seismic model, North Vancouver’s buildings lose $0.40 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is North Vancouver’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives North Vancouver C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is North Vancouver at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around North Vancouver since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).