Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainOn hazards, Osoyoos 1 comes out behind almost every Canadian town
Fire is a regular visitor: 34% of the land within 25 km of Osoyoos 1 has burned since 1986 (0.90% a year). Seismic risk in Osoyoos 1 sits near the middle: $0.022 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). Hazard risk gives Osoyoos 1 a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Osoyoos 1’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Osoyoos 1: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Osoyoos 1 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Osoyoos 1 grades D− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Osoyoos 1’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: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
44% of the land near Osoyoos 1’s homes has burned since 1986, 34% within 25 km
Past fire around Osoyoos 1’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.90% of the land a year, Osoyoos 1’s burn rate is high, many times the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Close to Osoyoos 1 there is little to burn (1.5% forest fuel within 5 km), but 39% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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 0.90% a year, Osoyoos 1 is near the top in British Columbia: 3rd 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.
High is rare: 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Osoyoos 1 among them, with 0.2% higher still.
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.
Osoyoos 1 is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Okanagan Basin Water Board
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Osoyoos 1: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Osoyoos 1, Okanagan Basin Water Board’s from 2020, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Okanagan Mainstem Floodplain Mapping Project | Okanagan Basin Water Board | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Osoyoos 1 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 Osoyoos 1.
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 Osoyoos 1 $0.022 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Osoyoos 1’s ground: $0.022 against a typical $0.030, 0.7 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Osoyoos 1’s $0.022 sits under the median in British Columbia, $0.36, and well under Duncan’s $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.
Osoyoos 1 sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 61% expect more shaking damage.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Osoyoos 1’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 Osoyoos 1: 17% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Okanagan health region
Osoyoos 1’s area, at 17%, 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
Osoyoos 1’s area, at 17%, is above the median in British Columbia (1.8%), and 2.8% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Osoyoos 1 is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are higher.
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 Osoyoos 1 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).
Weather and fire alerts for Osoyoos 1
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Osoyoos 1; 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 Osoyoos 1, 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)
How Osoyoos 1’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osoyoos 1 | High | $0.022 | 17% | Yes |
| Oliver 5,262 · 4.4 km | High | $0.028 | 17% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C, Okanagan-Similkameen 4,103 · 6.2 km | High | $0.021 | 17% | Yes |
| Osoyoos 5,724 · 16 km | High | $0.030 | 17% | Yes |
| Electoral Area B, Okanagan-Similkameen 1,190 · 17 km | Very high | $0.024 | 17% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Okanagan-Similkameen 2,429 · 18 km | High | $0.018 | 17% | Yes |
Fire is heaviest around Electoral Area B, Okanagan-Similkameen (very high), against high for Osoyoos 1.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Osoyoos 1 faces
What to do about the hazards Osoyoos 1 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?
- 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Osoyoos 1 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 Osoyoos 1.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Osoyoos 1’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Osoyoos 1’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Osoyoos 1
How is Osoyoos 1’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Osoyoos 1 D−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Osoyoos 1 flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Osoyoos 1; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Osoyoos 1 at risk of wildfire?
More than most Canadian towns; Osoyoos 1’s high band rests on 34% of nearby land burned since 1986 (most recently 2025).
How big is the earthquake risk in Osoyoos 1?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Osoyoos 1’s buildings lose $0.022 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Osoyoos 1?
Around Osoyoos 1, 109 survey homes were tested and 17% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).