Photo: Michael Rogers. Original uploader was Mjrogers50 at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Around Rossland, 29% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
Burn scars are few around Rossland, with 1.5% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.04% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.008 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Rossland a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Rossland’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Rossland: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Rossland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rossland grades C+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Rossland’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #201 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,837 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around Rossland has burned: 0% within 5 km, 1.5% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Rossland’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Rossland burns at 0.04% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The 5 km ring around Rossland’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 8.4 km out.
Within 5 km of Rossland, 62% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 71%.
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
Rossland sits mid-table in British Columbia: 78th of 255 towns, at 0.04% a year, well behind Oliver (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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Rossland 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Rossland
Flood studies whose area touches Rossland, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Rossland, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Rossland has no study, where 76% of towns in British Columbia have one against 58% nationally.
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 Rossland 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.”
Little shaking expected in Rossland: $0.008 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Rossland it is only $0.008, 0.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in British Columbia peaks in Duncan ($1.33); Rossland, at $0.008, 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 87% of its 2,611 towns sit above Rossland.
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 loss is to Rossland’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
29% of homes tested around Rossland are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Rossland’s survey area reads 29% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Rossland’s area, at 29%, is above the median in British Columbia (1.8%), and 7.3% 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.
One home in five or more tests over the guideline around Rossland; 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are in that band and 1.5% 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.
One home in Rossland can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Kootenay/Boundary health region
Weather and fire alerts for Rossland
Alerts for Rossland 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. |
Evacuation orders for Rossland come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Rossland’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rossland | Low | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Warfield 1,729 · 3.7 km | Moderate | $0.011 | 29% | None listed |
| Trail 8,539 · 7.8 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Montrose 1,072 · 15 km | Moderate | $0.006 | 29% | None listed |
| Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary 1,432 · 17 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Fruitvale 2,068 · 18 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 29% | Yes |
The heaviest fire record nearby is Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary’s, moderate to Rossland’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rossland faces
Practical steps for Rossland’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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Rossland’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Rossland’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Rossland 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 Rossland floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rossland
Is Rossland at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Rossland’s low band (1.5% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Rossland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Rossland grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Rossland?
About $0.008 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Rossland.
Does Rossland flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Rossland, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is radon a problem in Rossland?
The area’s survey found 29% of 109 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Rossland.
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).