Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0Terrace is on Canada’s flood inventory: 3 listed, led by Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
Burn scars are few around Terrace, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.003% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Terrace as in most places, at $0.026 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is about average around Terrace: 5.2% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Terrace grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Terrace’s hazards
For Terrace, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Terrace faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Terrace: A−
Two inputs always count for Terrace, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #12 of 254 in British Columbia and #858 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Terrace has burned: 0.2% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Terrace’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.003% of the land around Terrace each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Forest fuel covers 59% of the land close to Terrace and 65% across 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
Oliver tops the 255 towns in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Terrace, at 0.003%, comes 191st.
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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Terrace burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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.
3 flood studies cover Terrace, the newest from Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
Flood studies whose area touches Terrace, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The newest of 3 studies covering Terrace is Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship’s, from 2024; open its map to see the zones.
| 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 |
| Lakelse River and Lake Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1990 | final |
| Skeena River (Lakelse River, Terrace, Usk) Floodplain Mapping (including Zymagotitz (Zymacord) and Kitsumkalum Rivers) | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1982 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Terrace 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.
No single decade dominates: 3 studies for Terrace between the 1980s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Terrace.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Terrace.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Terrace: $0.026 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.
With $0.026 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Terrace is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.9 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in British Columbia peaks in Duncan ($1.33); Terrace, at $0.026, is below the median of $0.36.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Terrace sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 53% expect more shaking damage.
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).
For Terrace the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
5.2% of homes tested around Terrace are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Terrace, 5.2% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Northwest health region, with Terrace one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Terrace, 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Terrace’s 5–10% 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.
A low area share in Terrace doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Terrace
Alerts for Terrace 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 Terrace to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Terrace
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrace | Low | $0.026 | 5.2% | Yes |
| Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine 4,153 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.021 | 5.2% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C (Part 1), Kitimat-Stikine 3,189 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.027 | 5.2% | Yes |
The fire record around Electoral Area C (Part 1), Kitimat-Stikine is a touch heavier than Terrace’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Terrace faces
What to do about the hazards Terrace 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. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Terrace sits in.
- 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 Terrace.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Terrace’s included.
- 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 Terrace floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Terrace
How big is the earthquake risk in Terrace?
Expected earthquake damage in Terrace comes to $0.026 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Terrace at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Terrace has burned since 1986, the last in 2024, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Terrace?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5.2% of 211 homes tested in Terrace’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Terrace flood?
Terrace’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Terrace’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Terrace grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).