Photo: Thedemonhog · CC BY-SA 3.0Shaking costs buildings in Arbutus Ridge $0.43 a year per $1,000 of value, 14 times the typical town’s
Fire seldom reaches Arbutus Ridge: since 1986, 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.005% a year). In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.2% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Arbutus Ridge grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Arbutus Ridge’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Arbutus Ridge: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Arbutus Ridge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Arbutus Ridge grades B− for hazard risk
For Arbutus Ridge, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #136 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,670 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Few fires near Arbutus Ridge: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Arbutus Ridge’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.005% of the land near Arbutus Ridge burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Arbutus Ridge’s homes came within 7.8 km, never inside 5 km.
There is forest near Arbutus Ridge’s homes (8% within 5 km) and more of it further out (39% 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 255
Arbutus Ridge burns at 0.005% a year, 121st 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Arbutus Ridge 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.
Arbutus Ridge is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by City of Vancouver
Flood studies whose area touches Arbutus Ridge, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Arbutus Ridge, City of Vancouver’s from 2014, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Vancouver Coastal Flood Risk Assessment | City of Vancouver | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Arbutus Ridge included, beside 58% across Canada.
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 Arbutus Ridge’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
High seismic risk in Arbutus Ridge: $0.43 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.
Arbutus Ridge’s $0.43 is about 14.4 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in British Columbia: Arbutus Ridge’s $0.43 sits by the median of $0.36, while Duncan reaches $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 Arbutus Ridge: 3.1% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Arbutus Ridge’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Vancouver
Little radon around Arbutus Ridge: 1.2% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Vancouver health region: radon tests
Arbutus Ridge’s area, at 1.2%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%), the area around Arbutus Ridge has fewer high tests: 1.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Arbutus Ridge’s 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.
One home in Arbutus Ridge can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Arbutus Ridge
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Arbutus Ridge; 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 Arbutus Ridge come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Arbutus Ridge’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arbutus Ridge | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Dunbar-Southlands 21,117 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Shaughnessy 8,034 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Kerrisdale 14,105 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Greektown 16,618 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Kitsilano 27,320 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Fairview 33,969 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Arbutus Ridge (low), with Dunbar-Southlands next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Arbutus Ridge faces
Practical steps for Arbutus Ridge’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- 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 Arbutus Ridge until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Arbutus Ridge without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Arbutus Ridge’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Arbutus Ridge’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Arbutus Ridge
How is Arbutus Ridge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Arbutus Ridge B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Arbutus Ridge at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Arbutus Ridge’s band is low, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2018), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Arbutus Ridge flood?
A flood study covers Arbutus Ridge on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Arbutus Ridge?
About $0.43 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Arbutus Ridge.
Is radon a problem in Arbutus Ridge?
1.2% of the 83 homes Health Canada tested around Arbutus Ridge topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).