Photo: Casey Yee from Vancouver, BC, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Earthquake risk in Bridgeview runs 16 times the typical Canadian town’s: $0.47 per $1,000 a year
Fire seldom reaches Bridgeview: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.003% a year). In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Bridgeview grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Bridgeview’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Bridgeview: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Bridgeview faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Bridgeview: B
For Bridgeview, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #59 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,520 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 70 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Bridgeview: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Bridgeview’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.003% of the land around Bridgeview each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 11 km from Bridgeview’s homes, none within 5 km.
The forest starts beyond town: 2.4% of the land within 5 km of Bridgeview’s homes is forest fuel, against 27% 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
Bridgeview ranks 191st of the 255 towns in British Columbia for burn rate (0.003% a year), in the lower half; Oliver leads 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Bridgeview stays low, with 92%.
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.
City of Surrey has mapped flooding for Bridgeview (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Bridgeview: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Bridgeview, City of Surrey’s from 2015, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serpentine & Nicomekl River Climate Change Floodplain Review Phase 2 | City of Surrey | 2015 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia: 76% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Bridgeview 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 Bridgeview’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.
Shaking is Bridgeview’s costliest hazard: $0.47 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 15.7 times the typical $0.030: Bridgeview’s $0.47 marks real seismic exposure.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Surrey, Bridgeview included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in British Columbia expects $0.36 a year; Bridgeview expects $0.47, and Duncan $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.
Only 1.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Bridgeview.
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 Bridgeview’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 Bridgeview: 0% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Fraser South health region
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Bridgeview’s area, at 0%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Bridgeview’s area, at 0%, is below 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 Bridgeview 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Bridgeview as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Bridgeview
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bridgeview; 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 Bridgeview 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 Bridgeview’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgeview | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Whalley 52,642 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Port Mann 5,988 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| New Westminster 92,124 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 0% | Yes |
| Birdland 10,745 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Brownsville 23,515 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| East Burnaby 17,233 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Bridgeview has the most fire on record (low); Whalley follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bridgeview faces
Practical steps for Bridgeview’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
- 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 Bridgeview sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Bridgeview’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 Bridgeview’s.
- 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 Bridgeview floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bridgeview
How is Bridgeview’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Bridgeview B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Bridgeview?
The area’s survey found 0% of 70 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Bridgeview.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bridgeview?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Bridgeview’s buildings lose $0.47 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Bridgeview at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Bridgeview’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2022) is short of the level that counts.
Does Bridgeview flood?
Bridgeview’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).