Photo: honkie6367 · CC BY-SA 3.0Shaking costs buildings in Fraser Heights $0.47 a year per $1,000 of value, 16 times the typical town’s
Little of the land around Fraser Heights has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.003% a year. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Fraser Heights grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Fraser Heights’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Fraser Heights: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Fraser Heights faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Fraser Heights: B
For Fraser Heights, 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 Fraser Heights: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Fraser Heights’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fraser Heights burns at 0.003% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 12 km from Fraser Heights’ homes since 1986.
Forest fuel rises from 3.4% within 5 km of Fraser Heights to 30% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from homes.
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
Some fire is mapped around Fraser Heights (0.003% a year), but it ranks only 191st of 255 towns in British Columbia; Oliver has 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Fraser Heights among them, though its rate is above zero; 7.5% rank higher.
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.
Fraser Heights is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by City of Coquitlam
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Fraser Heights: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 2 studies covering Fraser Heights is City of Coquitlam’s, from 2017; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coquitlam, Fraser, Pitt Rivers Floodplain Mapping | City of Coquitlam | 2017 | final |
| Serpentine & Nicomekl River Climate Change Floodplain Review Phase 2 | City of Surrey | 2015 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Fraser Heights is one of the 76% of towns in British Columbia with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Fraser Heights.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Fraser Heights $0.47 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Fraser Heights’ $0.47 is about 15.7 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Fraser Heights doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Surrey.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in British Columbia expects $0.36 a year; Fraser Heights 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.
Fraser Heights 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).
The model counts damage to Fraser Heights’ 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).
Little radon around Fraser Heights: 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, Fraser Heights’ area has fewer, 0%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Fraser Heights (0%) 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.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Fraser Heights’ band, which holds 37%.
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.
One home in Fraser Heights can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Fraser South health region, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Fraser Heights
Alerts for Fraser Heights 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. |
Evacuation orders for Fraser Heights come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Fraser Heights’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fraser Heights | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Guildford 14,663 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | None listed |
| Birdland 10,745 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Johnston Heights 30,971 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Anniedale 6,715 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Port Mann 5,988 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Fleetwood 63,957 · 5.1 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
Nowhere around Fraser Heights burns more: Guildford, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fraser Heights faces
Practical steps for Fraser Heights’ 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 Fraser Heights sits in.
- 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 Fraser Heights’.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Fraser Heights’ homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Fraser Heights floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fraser Heights
How is Fraser Heights’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Fraser Heights B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Fraser Heights flood?
Fraser Heights’ area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is Fraser Heights at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Fraser Heights’ band is low, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2022), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Fraser Heights?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Fraser Heights $0.47 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Fraser Heights?
0% of the 70 homes Health Canada tested around Fraser Heights topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).