Photo: Sandy Busche · CC BY 3.0Flood mapping exists for Taylor: 1 on record, latest by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Fire seldom reaches Taylor: since 1986, 1.3% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.03% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.008 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is higher than usual: 10% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Taylor a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Taylor’s hazards
For Taylor, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Taylor faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Taylor grades A− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Taylor, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Taylor: 1.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 1.1% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Taylor’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.03% a year keeps Taylor in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Taylor: 5.9% within 5 km, 5.2% 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 256
Taylor burns at 0.03% a year, 80th of 256 towns in British Columbia; the leader, Oliver, reaches 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.
Taylor is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
Taylor is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Flood studies whose area touches Taylor, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 1985 study by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy covers Taylor, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peace River BC Alberta Border to Site C Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1985 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Taylor 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.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Taylor.
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.
Little shaking expected in Taylor: $0.008 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.3 times the typical $0.030: Taylor’s $0.008 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.008, Taylor is below the typical town in British Columbia ($0.36); Duncan is 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.
Taylor is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 87% of the 2,611 towns are 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 Taylor 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).
Radon runs high around Taylor: 10% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 10% over the guideline, the area around Taylor beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Taylor doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Northeast health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Taylor than in most towns in British Columbia: 10% over the guideline (1.8% is typical), 0.5% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Taylor, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Taylor’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Taylor
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Taylor; 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. |
For fires near Taylor, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Taylor
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taylor | Low | $0.008 | 10% | Yes |
| Fort St. John 24,383 · 13 km | Low | $0.016 | 10% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C, Peace River 6,344 · 17 km | Moderate | $0.011 | 10% | Yes |
Electoral Area C, Peace River has the most fire around it, a moderate band against Taylor’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Taylor faces
What to do about the hazards Taylor 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Taylor is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Taylor’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Taylor.
- 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 Taylor.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Taylor
How big is the earthquake risk in Taylor?
Expected earthquake damage in Taylor comes to $0.008 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Taylor flood?
There is flood mapping for Taylor on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Taylor?
Around Taylor, 200 survey homes were tested and 10% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Taylor at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 1.3% of the land around Taylor since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Taylor’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Taylor A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).