Photo: Sarena D · CC BY-SA 4.0Shaking costs buildings in Ucluelet $0.40 a year per $1,000 of value, 13 times the typical town’s
Little of the land around Ucluelet has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.003% a year. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0.9% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Ucluelet a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Ucluelet’s hazards
For Ucluelet, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Ucluelet faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Ucluelet grades B− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Ucluelet, 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.
Few fires near Ucluelet: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Ucluelet’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.003% of the land near Ucluelet burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Forest thickens with distance from Ucluelet: 89% of the land within 5 km, 96% 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
Some fire is mapped around Ucluelet (0.003% a year), but it ranks only 191st of 256 towns in British Columbia; Oliver has 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Ucluelet stays low, with 92%.
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.
Ucluelet is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by District of Ucluelet
Flood studies whose area touches Ucluelet, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
District of Ucluelet holds the flood mapping that covers Ucluelet (2020), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| District of Ucluelet Coastal Flood Mapping | District of Ucluelet | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Ucluelet is one of the 76% of towns in British Columbia with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Ucluelet to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
High seismic risk in Ucluelet: $0.40 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.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Ucluelet loses $0.40, 13.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Ucluelet’s $0.40 is close to the median 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Ucluelet: 4.4% 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).
For Ucluelet 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).
Radon runs low around Ucluelet: 0.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A lower share than most: 0.9% of tested homes around Ucluelet, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; around Ucluelet it is 0.9%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Ucluelet is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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.
Whatever Ucluelet’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Central Vancouver Island health region)
Where to get warnings in Ucluelet
Alerts for Ucluelet 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. |
Evacuation orders for Ucluelet come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Ucluelet’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ucluelet | Low | $0.40 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area C, Alberni-Clayoquot 1,009 · 13 km | Low | $0.46 | 0.9% | Yes |
Ucluelet’s low band tops its neighbours; Electoral Area C, Alberni-Clayoquot is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Ucluelet faces
What to do about the hazards Ucluelet 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Ucluelet’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 Ucluelet.
- 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 Ucluelet.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Ucluelet takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ucluelet
Is radon a problem in Ucluelet?
Around Ucluelet, 109 survey homes were tested and 0.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Ucluelet flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Ucluelet; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Ucluelet?
About $0.40 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Ucluelet.
Is Ucluelet at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Ucluelet since 1986 (last in 1989); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Ucluelet’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Ucluelet’s Hazard risk grade is B−, 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).