Photo: Green slash · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Sun Peaks Mountain is higher than in 97% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is a real hazard for Sun Peaks Mountain: 18% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.46% a year, in the high band. 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. In Health Canada’s survey, 6.4% of homes tested in Sun Peaks Mountain’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Sun Peaks Mountain a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Sun Peaks Mountain’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sun Peaks Mountain: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sun Peaks Mountain faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Sun Peaks Mountain: D−
The grade weighs Sun Peaks Mountain’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
0% of the land near Sun Peaks Mountain’s homes has burned since 1986, 18% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sun Peaks Mountain’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
High: the land around Sun Peaks Mountain burns at 0.46% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Sun Peaks Mountain’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 5.5 km away.
The ring nearest Sun Peaks Mountain is the most wooded: 73% forest fuel within 5 km against 68% 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 256
The land around Sun Peaks Mountain burns at 0.46% a year, the 12th highest rate of 256 towns in British Columbia; Oliver tops it at 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.
High is rare: 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Sun Peaks Mountain among them, with 0.2% higher still.
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 Sun Peaks Mountain
Flood studies whose area touches Sun Peaks Mountain, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Sun Peaks Mountain, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia, 76% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Sun Peaks Mountain.
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 Sun Peaks Mountain’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.”
Low seismic risk in Sun Peaks Mountain: $0.008 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.
Sun Peaks Mountain’s $0.008 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.3 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Sun Peaks Mountain’s $0.008 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.
Sun Peaks Mountain is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 87% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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 Sun Peaks Mountain’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).
6.4% of homes tested around Sun Peaks Mountain are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Sun Peaks Mountain’s area 6.4%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Sun Peaks Mountain 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 Sun Peaks Mountain (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.
Sun Peaks Mountain 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Sun Peaks Mountain only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Sun Peaks Mountain
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sun Peaks Mountain; 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 Sun Peaks Mountain 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 Sun Peaks Mountain’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Peaks Mountain | High | $0.008 | 6.4% | None listed |
| Electoral Area P (Rivers and the Peaks), Thompson-Nicola 4,540 · 16 km | High | $0.010 | 6.4% | Yes |
| Chase 2,591 · 16 km | High | $0.008 | 6.4% | Yes |
The fire record around Chase is a touch heavier than Sun Peaks Mountain’s, but the band is the same: high (here high).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sun Peaks Mountain faces
What to do about the hazards Sun Peaks Mountain 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Sun Peaks Mountain until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Sun Peaks Mountain without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Sun Peaks Mountain’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 Sun Peaks Mountain’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sun Peaks Mountain
Is radon a problem in Sun Peaks Mountain?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.4% of 109 homes tested in Sun Peaks Mountain’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Sun Peaks Mountain’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Sun Peaks Mountain D−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Sun Peaks Mountain at risk of wildfire?
Yes, by Canadian standards: Sun Peaks Mountain’s band is high, with 18% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire counts against its Risk grade.
Does Sun Peaks Mountain flood?
Nothing is listed for Sun Peaks Mountain on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sun Peaks Mountain?
About $0.008 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Sun Peaks Mountain.
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).