Telkwa faces fewer hazards than 85% of Canadian towns
Fire seldom reaches Telkwa: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.004% a year). Seismic risk in Telkwa sits near the middle: $0.016 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Telkwa as elsewhere, 5.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Telkwa a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Telkwa’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Telkwa: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Telkwa faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Telkwa: A
For Telkwa, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Telkwa has burned: 1% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Telkwa’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Telkwa burns at 0.004% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
The nearer ring around Telkwa is less wooded (23% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (64%).
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
Telkwa ranks 144th of the 256 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Telkwa 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.
Flooding around Telkwa is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
Flood studies whose area touches Telkwa, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Telkwa, the newest Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship’s from 2024, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floodplain Mapping in BC - Bulkley and Skeena River – Summary Report and Lakelse Lake and River – Summary Report | Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship | 2024 | final |
| Bulkley and Telkwa Rivers (Smithers to Telkwa) Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1984 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Telkwa 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.
The 2 studies touching Telkwa are spread over time, from the 1980s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Telkwa.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Telkwa floods.
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 Telkwa $0.016 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Telkwa’s $0.016 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.5 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.016, Telkwa 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (71%) face more earthquake damage than Telkwa.
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 Telkwa’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).
Radon about average around Telkwa: 5.2% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Telkwa’s area 5.2%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Northwest health region as a whole, not for Telkwa alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Telkwa, 5.2% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.4% over 600, against a median of 1.8% in British Columbia.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Telkwa’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit higher.
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 Telkwa 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 Telkwa
Alerts for Telkwa 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 Telkwa to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Telkwa’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telkwa | Low | $0.016 | 5.2% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Bulkley-Nechako 5,829 · 10 km | Low | $0.011 | 5.2% | Yes |
| Smithers 5,627 · 13 km | Low | $0.009 | 5.2% | Yes |
Electoral Area A, Bulkley-Nechako burns a little more than Telkwa, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Telkwa faces
Practical steps for Telkwa’s 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.
- 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Telkwa’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Telkwa’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Telkwa 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 Telkwa.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Telkwa
Does Telkwa flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Telkwa; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Telkwa at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Telkwa’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Telkwa?
The area’s survey found 5.2% of 211 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Telkwa.
How big is the earthquake risk in Telkwa?
Expected earthquake damage in Telkwa comes to $0.016 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Telkwa’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Telkwa’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).