Photo: CPG1100 · CC BY-SA 4.0Prince George is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
Wildfire is rare near Prince George: 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.005% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.012 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 12% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Prince George a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Prince George’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Prince George: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Prince George faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Prince George grades B for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Prince George with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #27 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,427 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.
Little of the land around Prince George has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Prince George’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.005% of the land a year, Prince George’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
There is forest near Prince George’s homes (60% within 5 km) and more of it further out (76% 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
In the upper half in British Columbia but far from Oliver (0.98%): Prince George ranks 121st of 255, at 0.005% a year.
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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Prince George burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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.
Flooding around Prince George is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Prince George: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship and others have studied flooding in areas that include Prince George: 2 studies, the latest from 2025.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fraser, Nechako, Salmon, and Chilako Rivers Flood Mapping Study | Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship | 2025 | final |
| City of Prince George - Flood Risk Evaluation and Flood Control Solutions | City of Prince George | 2009 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Prince George included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2 studies touching Prince George are spread over time, from the 2000s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Prince George.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Prince George’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.
Low seismic risk in Prince George: $0.012 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Prince George’s $0.012 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Prince George’s $0.012 sits under the median in British Columbia, $0.36, and well under Duncan’s $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.
84% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Prince George.
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 Prince George’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).
Test for radon in Prince George: 12% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Prince George’s area has 12%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Prince George’s area, at 12%, is above the median in British Columbia (1.8%), and 1.9% 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.
More high tests than most: Prince George sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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 survey sampled homes around Prince George; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Northern Interior health region
Weather and fire alerts for Prince George
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Prince George; 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 Prince George come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Prince George
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince George | Low | $0.012 | 12% | Yes |
| Electoral Area D, Fraser-Fort George 4,802 · 14 km | Low | $0.014 | 12% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Fraser-Fort George 3,764 · 15 km | Low | $0.015 | 12% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C, Fraser-Fort George 3,811 · 17 km | Moderate | $0.011 | 12% | Yes |
| Electoral Area F, Fraser-Fort George 1,402 · 18 km | Low | $0.016 | 12% | Yes |
Fire is heaviest around Electoral Area C, Fraser-Fort George (moderate), against low for Prince George.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Prince George faces
What to do about the hazards Prince George 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Prince George’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Prince George’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 Prince George.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Prince George takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Prince George
Does Prince George flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Prince George; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Prince George?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Prince George $0.012 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Prince George?
Around Prince George, 208 survey homes were tested and 12% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Prince George’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Prince George grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Prince George at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Prince George since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).