Photo: David Abercrombie · CC BY-SA 2.0Earthquakes are Port McNeill’s biggest hazard: $0.25 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 8 times the norm
Little of the land around Port McNeill has burned: 0.3% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.006% a year. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0.9% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Port McNeill grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Port McNeill’s hazards
For Port McNeill, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Port McNeill faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Port McNeill grades B− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Port McNeill’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Port McNeill: 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Port McNeill’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.006% a year keeps Port McNeill in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
The closest burn since 1986 lies 13 km from Port McNeill’s homes, none within 5 km.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Port McNeill: 87% within 5 km, 88% 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 256
At 0.006% a year, Port McNeill ranks 115th of the 256 towns in British Columbia; Oliver leads at 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.
Port McNeill is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Port McNeill
Flood studies whose area touches Port McNeill, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Port McNeill has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Port McNeill is not yet one of them.
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 McNeill’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Port McNeill $0.25 per $1,000 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 McNeill loses $0.25, 8.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in British Columbia: Port McNeill’s $0.25 against a median of $0.36; Duncan has $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 McNeill is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 6.2% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Port McNeill.
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 Port McNeill: 0.9% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the North Vancouver Island health region: radon tests
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Port McNeill’s area, at 0.9%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%), the area around Port McNeill 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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Port McNeill; 63% sit higher.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Port McNeill can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Port McNeill
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Port McNeill; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Port McNeill come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Port McNeill faces
What to do about the hazards Port McNeill 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 McNeill.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Port McNeill until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Port McNeill without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Port McNeill’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Port McNeill
How is Port McNeill’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Port McNeill B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Port McNeill?
About $0.25 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Port McNeill.
Is radon a problem in Port McNeill?
Around Port McNeill, 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 McNeill at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.3% of the land around Port McNeill since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Port McNeill flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Port McNeill’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).