Earthquake risk in Brownsville runs 16 times the typical Canadian town’s: $0.47 per $1,000 a year
Wildfire is rare near Brownsville: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.003% a year. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Brownsville grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Brownsville’s hazards
For Brownsville, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Brownsville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Brownsville: B
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Brownsville with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #59 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,520 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 70 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Brownsville: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Brownsville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.003% of the land near Brownsville burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 7.7 km from Brownsville’s homes, none within 5 km.
The forest starts beyond town: 2.5% of the land within 5 km of Brownsville’s homes is forest fuel, against 21% 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
In the lower half in British Columbia: Brownsville at 0.003% a year, 191st of 255, far from Oliver’s 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; Brownsville 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 Brownsville (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Brownsville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2015 study by City of Surrey covers Brownsville, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| 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
Its flood study puts Brownsville with 76% of towns in British Columbia; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Brownsville’s homes are at risk.
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 Brownsville: $0.47 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.47 per $1,000, Brownsville carries roughly 15.7 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Brownsville’s $0.47 tops the median in British Columbia, $0.36, though Duncan reaches $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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Brownsville: 1.6% of them.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Brownsville.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk published for the city of Surrey, not by town
Little radon around Brownsville: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Fraser South health region
Fewer homes than usual test high around Brownsville: 0% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Brownsville’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.
Brownsville is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% 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 Brownsville 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 Brownsville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Brownsville; 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 Brownsville 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 Brownsville’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brownsville | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Whalley 52,642 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Strawberry Hill 37,037 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | None listed |
| Bridgeview 3,511 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Newton 51,222 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| New Westminster 92,124 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.43 | 0% | Yes |
| Port Mann 5,988 · 5.0 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
The fire record around Newton is a touch heavier than Brownsville’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Brownsville faces
What to do about the hazards Brownsville faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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. For Brownsville, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Brownsville.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Brownsville’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Brownsville takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Brownsville
How big is the earthquake risk in Brownsville?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Brownsville’s buildings lose $0.47 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Brownsville flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Brownsville; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Brownsville?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0% of 70 homes tested in Brownsville’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Brownsville at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Brownsville has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Brownsville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Brownsville’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).