Photo: The original uploader was RandyMac at English Wikipedia . · CC BY-SA 3.0Around Trail, 29% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Trail: 2.4% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.06% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. Seismic risk runs low: $0.008 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Trail grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Trail’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Trail: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Trail faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Trail grades C+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Trail with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #201 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,837 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Fire reaches the land around Trail: 0% within 5 km, 2.4% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Trail’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Trail is 0.06%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
The nearer ring around Trail is less wooded (54% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (72%).
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
Trail burns at 0.06% a year, 66th of 255 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Trail, and 2.1% sit 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.
No flood study is listed for Trail
Flood studies whose area touches Trail, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Trail on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Missing from a well-mapped province: Trail has no study, where 76% of towns in British Columbia have one against 58% nationally.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Trail 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.”
Little shaking expected in Trail: $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: Trail’s $0.008 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.008, Trail 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.
87% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Trail.
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 model counts damage to Trail’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Trail: 29% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 29% over the guideline, the area around Trail beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Kootenay/Boundary health region, Trail included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Trail than in most towns in British Columbia: 29% over the guideline (1.8% is typical), 7.3% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Trail, and 1.5% sit above it.
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 share describes the area, not a house: in Trail as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Trail
Alerts for Trail 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Trail are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Trail
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trail | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Warfield 1,729 · 4.2 km | Moderate | $0.011 | 29% | None listed |
| Montrose 1,072 · 7.8 km | Moderate | $0.006 | 29% | None listed |
| Rossland 4,355 · 7.8 km | Low | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
| Fruitvale 2,068 · 11 km | Moderate | $0.010 | 29% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Kootenay Boundary 2,008 · 12 km | Moderate | $0.007 | 29% | Yes |
| Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary 1,432 · 13 km | Moderate | $0.008 | 29% | None listed |
Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary burns a little more than Trail, in the same moderate band (moderate here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Trail faces
What to do about the hazards Trail faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Trail’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, Trail takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Trail’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Trail.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Trail
Is radon a problem in Trail?
Around Trail, 109 survey homes were tested and 29% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Trail’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Trail’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Trail flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Trail’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Trail at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2.4% of the land around Trail since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Trail?
Expected earthquake damage in Trail comes to $0.008 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).