Photo: Extemporalist · CC0On hazards, Peachland comes out behind 98% of Canadian towns
Fire is a regular visitor: 19% of the land within 25 km of Peachland has burned since 1986 (0.49% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is higher than usual: 17% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Peachland grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Peachland’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Peachland: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Peachland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Peachland: D−
Two inputs always count for Peachland, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #246 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,570 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Fire country: 19% of the land within 25 km of Peachland has burned since 1986, 34% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Peachland’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
High: the land around Peachland burns at 0.49% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Within 5 km of Peachland, 40% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 57%.
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
At 0.49% a year, Peachland is near the top in British Columbia: 9th of 255, 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.
Just 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough for the high band where Peachland sits; 0.2% burn faster.
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.
Peachland is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Okanagan Basin Water Board
Flood studies whose area touches Peachland, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Peachland the inventory points to Okanagan Basin Water Board’s 2020 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Okanagan Mainstem Floodplain Mapping Project | Okanagan Basin Water Board | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Peachland 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Peachland.
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.
Little shaking expected in Peachland: $0.013 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Peachland’s $0.013 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.4 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.013, Peachland is below the typical town 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (75%) face more earthquake damage than Peachland.
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 model counts damage to Peachland’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Peachland: 17% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Peachland’s area, at 17%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. Peachland doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Okanagan health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Peachland’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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Peachland among them; 4.6% rank above.
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 share describes the area, not a house: in Peachland as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Peachland
Alerts for Peachland 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Peachland to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Peachland
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peachland | High | $0.013 | 17% | Yes |
| Tsinstikeptum 9 10,514 · 12 km | High | $0.016 | 17% | Yes |
| West Kelowna 40,274 · 13 km | High | $0.015 | 17% | Yes |
| Tsinstikeptum 10 2,081 · 19 km | Moderate | $0.012 | 17% | Yes |
The heaviest fire record nearby is Tsinstikeptum 10’s, moderate to Peachland’s high.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Peachland faces
What to do about the hazards Peachland 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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Peachland’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Peachland takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Peachland’s.
- 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 Peachland.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Peachland
How big is the earthquake risk in Peachland?
About $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Peachland.
How is Peachland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Peachland grades D− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Peachland at risk of wildfire?
Yes, by Canadian standards: Peachland’s band is high, with 19% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire counts against its Risk grade.
Is radon a problem in Peachland?
In Health Canada’s survey, 17% of 109 homes tested in Peachland’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Peachland flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Peachland; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in 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).