Shaking costs buildings in Ocean Park $0.47 a year per $1,000 of value, 16 times the typical town’s
Fire seldom reaches Ocean Park: since 1986, 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.004% 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. Hazard risk gives Ocean Park a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Ocean Park’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Ocean Park: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Ocean Park faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Ocean Park grades B for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Ocean Park, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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. Only 70 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Ocean Park has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Ocean Park’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.004% of the land a year around Ocean Park, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 13 km from Ocean Park’s homes since 1986.
Forest crowds in on Ocean Park: 12% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 5.7% 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
Ocean Park ranks 144th of the 255 towns in British Columbia for burn rate (0.004% 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.
Some fire is mapped around Ocean Park, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
No flood study is listed for Ocean Park
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Ocean Park: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Ocean Park; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
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 Ocean Park.
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 Ocean Park.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Ocean Park $0.47 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.47 per $1,000, Ocean Park carries roughly 15.7 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Ocean Park alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Surrey.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in British Columbia: Ocean Park’s $0.47 against a median of $0.36, with Duncan highest at $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.
Ocean Park 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 loss is to Ocean Park’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Ocean Park: 0% of area 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
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Ocean Park’s area has fewer, 0%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ocean Park’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.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Ocean Park, 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.
The survey sampled homes around Ocean Park; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Ocean Park
Alerts for Ocean Park 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 Ocean Park to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Ocean Park’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean Park | Low | $0.47 | 0% | None listed |
| Crescent Heights 9,033 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| White Rock 25,057 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.60 | 0% | Yes |
| South Surrey 6,431 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Semiahmoo Town Centre 13,381 · 4.1 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Sunnyside 16,784 · 4.9 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Anderson Walk 4,210 · 5.0 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Ocean Park (low); Crescent Heights comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Ocean Park faces
What to do about the hazards Ocean Park 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Ocean Park.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Ocean Park’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Ocean Park is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Ocean Park’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ocean Park
Is radon a problem in Ocean Park?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0% of 70 homes tested in Ocean Park’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Ocean Park at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.2% of the land within 25 km of Ocean Park has burned since 1986, the last in 2018, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Ocean Park’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Ocean Park B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Ocean Park?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Ocean Park’s buildings lose $0.47 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Ocean Park flood?
Nothing is listed for Ocean Park on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).