Photo: Darren Kirby · CC BY-SA 3.0Revelstoke faces fewer hazards than 85% of Canadian towns
The burn rate around Revelstoke is 0.07% a year (2.6% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). About as many homes carry radon around Revelstoke as elsewhere, 6.4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Revelstoke a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Revelstoke’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Revelstoke: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Revelstoke faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Revelstoke grades A for hazard risk
The grade weighs Revelstoke’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: #6 of 254 in British Columbia and #567 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.
Fire reaches the land around Revelstoke: 1.7% within 5 km, 2.6% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Revelstoke’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.07% of the land a year, Revelstoke’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel is denser close to Revelstoke (76% within 5 km) than further out (60% 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 burns fastest in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Revelstoke, at 0.07%, ranks 63rd of 255.
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.
Moderate puts Revelstoke above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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 Revelstoke, from Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Revelstoke, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy holds the flood mapping that covers Revelstoke (1983), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia River at Revelstoke Floodplain Mapping (including Illecillewat River) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1983 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Revelstoke 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Revelstoke floods.
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 Revelstoke just $0.013 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.
Revelstoke’s $0.013 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.4 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in British Columbia peaks in Duncan ($1.33); Revelstoke, at $0.013, is below the median of $0.36.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Earthquakes cost less around Revelstoke than in 75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 model counts damage to Revelstoke’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Revelstoke: 6.4% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Revelstoke reads 6.4%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Thompson/Cariboo health region, Revelstoke included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Revelstoke has 6.4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Revelstoke’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Revelstoke can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Revelstoke
Alerts for Revelstoke come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Revelstoke are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Revelstoke faces
What to do about the hazards Revelstoke 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.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
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 Revelstoke’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Revelstoke’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Revelstoke takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Revelstoke.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Revelstoke
Is Revelstoke at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 2.6% of the land within 25 km of Revelstoke has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Revelstoke?
Expected earthquake damage in Revelstoke comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Revelstoke?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.4% of 109 homes tested in Revelstoke’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Revelstoke flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Revelstoke; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Revelstoke’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Revelstoke grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers 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).