Photo: Leoboudv · CC BY-SA 3.0Shaking costs buildings in South Surrey $0.47 a year per $1,000 of value, 16 times the typical town’s
Little of the land around South Surrey has burned: 0.2% within 25 km since 1986, or 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 South Surrey a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about South Surrey’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for South Surrey: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What South Surrey faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in South Surrey: B
The grade weighs South Surrey’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near South Surrey: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where South Surrey’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.004% a year keeps South Surrey in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Nothing inside 5 km of South Surrey’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 15 km off.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around South Surrey: 9.8% within 5 km, 5.5% 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
Some fire is mapped around South Surrey (0.004% a year), but it ranks only 144th 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; South Surrey 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.
South Surrey is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by City of Surrey
Flood studies whose area touches South Surrey, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches South Surrey, 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 South Surrey 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 South Surrey’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.
High seismic risk in South Surrey: $0.47 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.47 per $1,000, South Surrey carries roughly 15.7 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Surrey, South Surrey included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.47, South Surrey is above the typical town in British Columbia ($0.36); Duncan has the most 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than South Surrey: 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in South Surrey’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 South Surrey: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Fraser South health region: radon tests
At 0% over the guideline, the area around South Surrey is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%), the area around South Surrey has fewer high tests: 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
South Surrey 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.
One home in South Surrey 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).
Weather and fire alerts for South Surrey
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for South Surrey; 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 South Surrey 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 South Surrey’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Surrey | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Anderson Walk 4,210 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Morgan Creek 8,084 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Sunnyside 16,784 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Semiahmoo Town Centre 13,381 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| White Rock 25,057 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.60 | 0% | Yes |
| Crescent Heights 9,033 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
Nowhere around South Surrey burns more: Anderson Walk, 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 South Surrey faces
What to do about the hazards South Surrey 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
- 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 South Surrey.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; South Surrey’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, South Surrey takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around South Surrey’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in South Surrey
How big is the earthquake risk in South Surrey?
Expected earthquake damage in South Surrey comes to $0.47 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is South Surrey at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.2% of the land within 25 km of South Surrey has burned since 1986, the last in 2018, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does South Surrey flood?
The inventory lists a study touching South Surrey; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is South Surrey’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives South Surrey B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in South Surrey?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0% of 70 homes tested in South Surrey’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).