Photo: Sebbby98 · CC BY-SA 4.0Shaking costs buildings in Tsawwassen $0.48 a year per $1,000 of value, 16 times the typical town’s
Wildfire is rare near Tsawwassen: 0.3% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.007% 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 Tsawwassen a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Tsawwassen’s hazards
For Tsawwassen, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Tsawwassen faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Tsawwassen grades B for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Tsawwassen with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #92 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,553 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 70 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Tsawwassen has burned: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.3% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Tsawwassen’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Tsawwassen’s 0.007% is in the low band.
10% of the land within 25 km of Tsawwassen is forest fuel, yet only 2.1% within 5 km of its homes.
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
In the upper half in British Columbia but far from Oliver (0.98%): Tsawwassen ranks 109th of 255, at 0.007% a year.
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, Tsawwassen 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Tsawwassen
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Tsawwassen: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Tsawwassen has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Tsawwassen has no flood study on file, though 76% of towns in British Columbia do (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Tsawwassen’s homes are at risk.
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.”
Shaking is Tsawwassen’s costliest hazard: $0.48 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Tsawwassen loses $0.48, 15.9 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in British Columbia expects $0.36 a year; Tsawwassen expects $0.48, and Duncan $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 Tsawwassen: 1.5% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Tsawwassen.
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 Tsawwassen: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 0% over the guideline, the area around Tsawwassen is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Fraser South health region, Tsawwassen included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Tsawwassen than in most towns in British Columbia: 0% against 1.8%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Tsawwassen; 63% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Tsawwassen, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Tsawwassen
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Tsawwassen; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Tsawwassen, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Tsawwassen’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tsawwassen | Low | $0.48 | 0% | None listed |
| Delta 124,670 · 11 km | Low | $0.60 | 0% | Yes |
| Richmond 239,584 · 14 km | Low | $0.63 | 0% | Yes |
| Crescent Heights 9,033 · 17 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Ocean Park 10,845 · 17 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | None listed |
| Colebrook 3,617 · 18 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Strawberry Hill 37,037 · 19 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Richmond (low), still no more than Tsawwassen (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Tsawwassen faces
What to do about the hazards Tsawwassen 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Tsawwassen.
- 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 Tsawwassen floods.
- 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 Tsawwassen sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Tsawwassen’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Tsawwassen
Is radon a problem in Tsawwassen?
Around Tsawwassen, 70 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Tsawwassen at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.3% of the land around Tsawwassen since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Tsawwassen’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Tsawwassen grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Tsawwassen?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Tsawwassen $0.48 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Tsawwassen flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Tsawwassen’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).