Photo: Kevstan · CC BY-SA 3.0Shaking costs buildings in Port Alberni $0.63 a year per $1,000 of value, 21 times the typical town’s
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Port Alberni: 2.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.05% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0.9% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Port Alberni grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Port Alberni’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Port Alberni: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Port Alberni faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Port Alberni grades B− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Port Alberni, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #131 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,661 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.
A moderate wildfire record for Port Alberni: 2.1% within 25 km burned, 0.3% within 5 km
Past fire around Port Alberni’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Port Alberni is 0.05%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
Forest fuel covers 59% of the land close to Port Alberni and 79% 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
Port Alberni sits mid-table in British Columbia: 68th of 255 towns, at 0.05% 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Port Alberni, and 2.1% sit above it.
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 Port Alberni, from Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Port Alberni: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Port Alberni is Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District’s, dated 2020; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Somass Watershed Flood Management Plan | Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District | 2020 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Port Alberni 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 is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Port Alberni’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
High seismic risk in Port Alberni: $0.63 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.63 per $1,000, Port Alberni carries roughly 21.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in British Columbia: Port Alberni’s $0.63 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Port Alberni: 0.7% 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 Port Alberni’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).
0.9% of homes tested around Port Alberni are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Port Alberni’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
Against the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%), the area around Port Alberni has fewer high tests: 0.9%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Port Alberni 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 Port Alberni; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Central Vancouver Island health region
Weather and fire alerts for Port Alberni
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Port Alberni; 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 Port Alberni, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Port Alberni’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Alberni | Moderate | $0.63 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area F, Alberni-Clayoquot 2,141 · 3.4 km | Moderate | $0.42 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area E, Alberni-Clayoquot 3,069 · 6.0 km | Moderate | $0.49 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area D, Alberni-Clayoquot 1,875 · 12 km | Moderate | $0.28 | 0.9% | Yes |
The fire record around Electoral Area F, Alberni-Clayoquot is a touch heavier than Port Alberni’s, but the band is the same: moderate (here moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Port Alberni faces
What to do about the hazards Port Alberni 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.
- 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.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
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, Port Alberni 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 Port Alberni’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Port Alberni’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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Port Alberni.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Port Alberni
How big is the earthquake risk in Port Alberni?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Port Alberni’s buildings lose $0.63 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Port Alberni’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Port Alberni B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Port Alberni at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 2.1% of the land within 25 km of Port Alberni has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Port Alberni?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0.9% of 109 homes tested in Port Alberni’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Port Alberni flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Port Alberni; 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).