Photo: The Interior · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Salmon Arm is lower than in 85% of Canadian towns
The burn rate around Salmon Arm is 0.18% a year (7.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon around Salmon Arm is ordinary for Canada: 6.4% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Salmon Arm grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Salmon Arm’s hazards
For Salmon Arm, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Salmon Arm faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Salmon Arm: A
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Salmon Arm with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #6 of 254 in British Columbia and #567 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
A moderate wildfire record for Salmon Arm: 7.4% within 25 km burned, 9.8% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Salmon Arm’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Salmon Arm is 0.18%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Salmon Arm: 67% within 5 km, 70% 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; Salmon Arm, at 0.18%, ranks 36th 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Salmon Arm, and 2.1% sit 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.
2 flood studies cover Salmon Arm, the newest from Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
Flood studies whose area touches Salmon Arm, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Salmon Arm the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship’s in 2025.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shuswap Region Floodplain Maps | Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship | 2025 | final |
| Salmon River Salmon Arm to Falkland Floodplain Mapping (including Bolean Creek) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1992 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia: 76% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Salmon Arm is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Salmon Arm between the 1990s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Salmon Arm.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Salmon Arm’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.
Low seismic risk in Salmon Arm: $0.013 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Salmon Arm’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Salmon Arm’s $0.013 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.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Salmon Arm.
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).
For Salmon Arm the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
6.4% of homes tested around Salmon Arm are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Salmon Arm, 6.4% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Salmon Arm doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Thompson/Cariboo health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Salmon Arm (6.4%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Salmon Arm is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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 Salmon Arm 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 Salmon Arm
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Salmon Arm; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Salmon Arm, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Salmon Arm’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salmon Arm | Moderate | $0.013 | 6.4% | Yes |
| Electoral Area F, North Okanagan 4,969 · 13 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 17% | Yes |
| Enderby 3,292 · 18 km | Moderate | $0.017 | 17% | Yes |
| Blind Bay 9,984 · 19 km | High | $0.009 | 6.4% | Yes |
Fire is heaviest around Blind Bay (high), against moderate for Salmon Arm.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Salmon Arm faces
What to do about the hazards Salmon Arm 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Salmon Arm’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Salmon Arm, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Salmon Arm until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Salmon Arm without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Salmon Arm
How is Salmon Arm’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Salmon Arm A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Salmon Arm flood?
A flood study covers Salmon Arm on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Salmon Arm?
Around Salmon Arm, 109 survey homes were tested and 6.4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Salmon Arm at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 7.4% of the land around Salmon Arm since 1986 (last in 2024); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Salmon Arm?
Expected earthquake damage in Salmon Arm comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).