Photo: waferboard · CC BY 2.0Shaking costs buildings in Fleetwood $0.47 a year per $1,000 of value, 16 times the typical town’s
Burn scars are few around Fleetwood, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.003% a year). Radon is lower than usual: 0% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Fleetwood grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Fleetwood’s hazards
For Fleetwood, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Fleetwood faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Fleetwood: B
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Fleetwood 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.
Wildfire is rare near Fleetwood: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Fleetwood’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Fleetwood burns at 0.003% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Fleetwood’s homes came within 12 km, never inside 5 km.
Homes in Fleetwood sit on open or built-up ground (2.4% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 23%.
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 tops the 255 towns in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Fleetwood, at 0.003%, comes 191st.
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; Fleetwood 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.
A flood study covers Fleetwood, from City of Surrey: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Fleetwood: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
City of Surrey studied flooding in an area that includes Fleetwood (2015); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| 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 Fleetwood 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.
Flood mapping is shown for Fleetwood to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Fleetwood’s costliest hazard: $0.47 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Fleetwood loses $0.47, 15.7 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in British Columbia peaks in Duncan ($1.33); Fleetwood, at $0.47, sits above 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.
Fleetwood is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 1.6% rank 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Fleetwood is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Surrey)
Little radon around Fleetwood: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Fleetwood’s area has fewer, 0%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; around Fleetwood it is 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Fleetwood, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
A low area share in Fleetwood doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Fraser South health region
Where to get warnings in Fleetwood
Alerts for Fleetwood 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Fleetwood to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Fleetwood’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fleetwood | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Johnston Heights 30,971 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Newton 51,222 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Guildford 14,663 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | None listed |
| Sullivan 42,135 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Fraser Heights 17,688 · 5.1 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Birdland 10,745 · 5.2 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
The fire record around Newton is a touch heavier than Fleetwood’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 Fleetwood faces
What to do about the hazards Fleetwood 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Fleetwood takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Fleetwood.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Fleetwood’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Fleetwood, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fleetwood
How big is the earthquake risk in Fleetwood?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Fleetwood $0.47 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Fleetwood’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Fleetwood B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Fleetwood?
Around Fleetwood, 70 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Fleetwood flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Fleetwood; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Fleetwood at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Fleetwood since 1986 (last in 2022); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).