Photo: Ursus sapien · CC BY-SA 4.0Port Coquitlam has one of Canada’s highest earthquake risks: $0.52 a year per $1,000, 17 times the typical town’s
Burn scars are few around Port Coquitlam, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.003% a year). In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Port Coquitlam a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Port Coquitlam’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Port Coquitlam: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Port Coquitlam faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Port Coquitlam: B
Seismic risk and radon set Port Coquitlam’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #93 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,560 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.
Few fires near Port Coquitlam: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Port Coquitlam’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Port Coquitlam burns at 0.003% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Within 5 km of Port Coquitlam, 17% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 42%.
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
Oliver tops the 255 towns in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Port Coquitlam, at 0.003%, comes 191st.
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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Port Coquitlam stays low, with 92%.
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.
Flooding around Port Coquitlam is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by City of Coquitlam
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Port Coquitlam: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Port Coquitlam the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently City of Coquitlam’s in 2017.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coquitlam, Fraser, Pitt Rivers Floodplain Mapping | City of Coquitlam | 2017 | final |
| Serpentine & Nicomekl River Climate Change Floodplain Review Phase 2 | City of Surrey | 2015 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Port Coquitlam 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Port Coquitlam’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Port Coquitlam $0.52 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Port Coquitlam’s $0.52 is about 17.4 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
Above the middle in British Columbia: Port Coquitlam’s $0.52 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.
Port Coquitlam is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 1.2% rank higher.
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 Port Coquitlam’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).
0% of homes tested around Port Coquitlam are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Fraser North health region: radon tests
At 0% over the guideline, the area around Port Coquitlam is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Port Coquitlam than in most towns in British Columbia: 0% 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: Port Coquitlam 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Port Coquitlam only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Port Coquitlam
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Port Coquitlam; 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 Coquitlam, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Port Coquitlam
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Coquitlam | Low | $0.52 | 0% | Yes |
| Coquitlam 173,599 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.33 | 0% | Yes |
| Port Moody 38,285 · 6.9 km | Low | $0.32 | 0% | None listed |
| Fraser Heights 17,688 · 7.1 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Pitt Meadows 20,892 · 7.1 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Birdland 10,745 · 8.0 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Port Mann 5,988 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
Port Coquitlam’s low band tops its neighbours; Coquitlam is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Port Coquitlam faces
Practical steps for Port Coquitlam’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 Port Coquitlam’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. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Port Coquitlam sits in.
- 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 Coquitlam’s.
- 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 Port Coquitlam floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Port Coquitlam
Is radon a problem in Port Coquitlam?
0% of the 108 homes Health Canada tested around Port Coquitlam topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Port Coquitlam’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Port Coquitlam grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Port Coquitlam at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Port Coquitlam’s band is low, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2022), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Port Coquitlam?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Port Coquitlam $0.52 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Port Coquitlam flood?
Port Coquitlam’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).