Photo: Dan Huntington from Anacortes, WA · CC BY-SA 2.0Shaking costs buildings in Port Hardy $0.44 a year per $1,000 of value, 15 times the typical town’s
Burn scars are few around Port Hardy, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.002% a year). Radon is lower than usual: 0.9% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Port Hardy grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Port Hardy’s hazards
For Port Hardy, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Port Hardy 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 Hardy: B−
The grade weighs Port Hardy’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #118 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,629 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Port Hardy has burned: 0.5% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Port Hardy’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.002% of the land near Port Hardy burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Port Hardy: 91% within 5 km, 93% 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
Oliver tops the 255 towns in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Port Hardy, at 0.002%, comes 230th.
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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Port Hardy among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
Port Hardy is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Flood studies whose area touches Port Hardy, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Port Hardy is Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy’s, dated 1994; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quatse River Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1994 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Port Hardy has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Port Hardy’s homes are at risk.
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 Hardy: $0.44 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Port Hardy loses $0.44, 14.8 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Port Hardy’s $0.44 is close to the median 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.
Only 3% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Port Hardy.
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).
For Port Hardy the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Port Hardy: 0.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the North Vancouver Island health region
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Port Hardy’s area, at 0.9%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Port Hardy (0.9%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Port Hardy, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Port Hardy, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Port Hardy
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Port Hardy; 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 Hardy, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Port Hardy faces
What to do about the hazards Port Hardy faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Port Hardy’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Port Hardy.
- 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 Hardy 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 Port Hardy floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Port Hardy
Is radon a problem in Port Hardy?
Around Port Hardy, 106 survey homes were tested and 0.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Port Hardy at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Port Hardy since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Port Hardy flood?
Port Hardy’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 Port Hardy’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Port Hardy’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Port Hardy?
About $0.44 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Port Hardy.
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).