Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainA flood study covers Rosedale: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
Fire seldom reaches Rosedale: since 1986, 0.7% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.02% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.10 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 3% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Rosedale grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Rosedale’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Rosedale: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Rosedale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rosedale grades B for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Rosedale’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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 Rosedale: 0% within 5 km, 0.7% within 25 km
Past fire around Rosedale’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.02% of the land a year, Rosedale’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Rosedale’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 10 km off.
Forest fuel covers 43% of the land close to Rosedale and 67% across 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
Rosedale burns at 0.02% a year, 86th of 256 towns in British Columbia; the leader, Oliver, reaches 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.
Rosedale 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.
Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship has mapped flooding for Rosedale (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Rosedale: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2025 study by Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship covers Rosedale, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Fraser and Coquihalla Rivers | Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia: 76% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Rosedale is among them.
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 Rosedale’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.
High seismic risk in Rosedale: $0.10 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 3.4 times the typical $0.030: Rosedale’s $0.10 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Rosedale’s $0.10 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.
25% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Rosedale, which places it in the upper third.
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 Rosedale’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 runs low around Rosedale: 3% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A lower share than most: 3% of tested homes around Rosedale, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Fraser East health region as a whole, not for Rosedale alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Rosedale’s area, at 3%, is above the median in British Columbia (1.8%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Rosedale with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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 Rosedale only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Rosedale
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Rosedale; 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 Rosedale come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Rosedale’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosedale | Low | $0.10 | 3% | Yes |
| Kent 7,093 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.15 | 3% | Yes |
| Harrison Hot Springs 2,148 · 12 km | Low | $0.13 | 3% | Yes |
| Electoral Area E, Fraser Valley 1,748 · 13 km | Low | $0.19 | 3% | Yes |
| Skowkale 1,114 · 14 km | Low | $0.25 | 3% | None listed |
| Chilliwack 105,520 · 15 km | Low | $0.31 | 3% | Yes |
| Tzeachten 13 4,899 · 16 km | Low | $0.28 | 3% | Yes |
Harrison Hot Springs burns a little more than Rosedale, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rosedale faces
Practical steps for Rosedale’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 Rosedale’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. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Rosedale until then.
- 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 Rosedale’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Rosedale without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rosedale
How big is the earthquake risk in Rosedale?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Rosedale’s buildings lose $0.10 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Rosedale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Rosedale’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Rosedale?
The area’s survey found 3% of 100 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Rosedale.
Does Rosedale flood?
A flood study covers Rosedale on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Rosedale at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Rosedale’s low band (0.7% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
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).