Photo: RockyGoat · Public domainHazards in Valemount: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 12% of tested homes
Wildfire is rare near Valemount: 1.4% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.04% a year. Seismic risk in Valemount sits near the middle: $0.052 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Valemount grades C for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Valemount’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Valemount: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Valemount faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Valemount grades C for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Valemount, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Valemount has burned: 1% within 5 km, 1.4% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Valemount’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.04% of the land around Valemount each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
More forest grows near Valemount’s homes (76% within 5 km) than across 25 km (58%).
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
In the upper half in British Columbia but far from Oliver (0.98%): Valemount ranks 79th of 256, at 0.04% 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, Valemount 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 Valemount
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Valemount: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Valemount on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Valemount 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Valemount’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
Expected shaking damage in Valemount: $0.052 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.052 per $1,000, Valemount’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.052, Valemount 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 30% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Valemount.
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 Valemount’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).
12% of homes tested around Valemount are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Valemount’s area, at 12%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Valemount, 12% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.9% 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Valemount among them; 4.6% rank above.
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 survey sampled homes around Valemount; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Northern Interior health region
Weather and fire alerts for Valemount
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Valemount; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Valemount come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Valemount faces
What to do about the hazards Valemount 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Valemount until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Valemount’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Valemount’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Valemount without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Valemount
Does Valemount flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Valemount’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Valemount?
Around Valemount, 208 survey homes were tested and 12% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Valemount’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Valemount grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Valemount?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Valemount $0.052 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Valemount at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 1.4% of the land around Valemount since 1986 (last in 2024); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).