Photo: Doug Wortley · CC BY-SA 4.0Earthquakes are Parksville’s biggest hazard: $0.49 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 16 times the norm
Wildfire is rare near Parksville: 0.5% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.01% a year. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Parksville grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Parksville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Parksville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Parksville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Parksville: B−
Earthquake risk and radon make Parksville’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #123 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,637 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.
Wildfire is rare near Parksville: 0.5% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Parksville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Parksville at 0.01% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 17 km from Parksville’s homes since 1986.
Forest thickens with distance from Parksville: 44% of the land within 5 km, 68% 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 255
In the upper half in British Columbia but far from Oliver (0.98%): Parksville ranks 90th of 255, at 0.01% a year.
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.
Some fire is mapped around Parksville, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
A flood study covers Parksville, from Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Parksville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Parksville the inventory points to Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy’s 1985 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Englishman River Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1985 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Parksville included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Parksville.
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 Parksville’s costliest hazard: $0.49 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Parksville’s $0.49 is about 16.5 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.49, Parksville is above the typical town in British Columbia ($0.36); Duncan has the most 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Parksville: 1.3% of them.
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 Parksville’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).
Little radon around Parksville: 0.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Central Vancouver Island health region
Parksville’s area, at 0.9%, 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
Radon runs lower around Parksville than in most towns in British Columbia: 0.9% against 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: Parksville 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Parksville 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 Parksville
Alerts for Parksville 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 Parksville 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 Parksville
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parksville | Low | $0.49 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area G, Nanaimo 8,412 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.42 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Qualicum Beach 9,640 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.47 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area F, Nanaimo 8,810 · 8.9 km | Low | $0.40 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Fairwinds 7,125 · 12 km | Low | $0.34 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Lantzville 4,276 · 19 km | Low | $0.50 | 0.9% | None listed |
The fire record around Electoral Area F, Nanaimo is a touch heavier than Parksville’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 Parksville faces
Practical steps for Parksville’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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Parksville’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Parksville’s.
- 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 Parksville sits in.
- 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 Parksville floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Parksville
Is Parksville at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Parksville’s band is low, with 0.5% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Parksville?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Parksville’s buildings lose $0.49 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Parksville?
0.9% of the 109 homes Health Canada tested around Parksville topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Parksville flood?
Parksville’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 is Parksville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Parksville grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers 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).