Photo: Thegooduser · CC BY-SA 4.0Earthquakes are Collingwood’s biggest hazard: $0.43 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 14 times the norm
Fire seldom reaches Collingwood: since 1986, 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.004% a year). In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.2% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Collingwood a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Collingwood’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Collingwood: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Collingwood faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Collingwood grades B− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Collingwood’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #136 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,670 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.
Little of the land around Collingwood has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Collingwood’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Collingwood burns at 0.004% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Collingwood’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 7.9 km off.
The forest starts beyond town: 0.9% of the land within 5 km of Collingwood’s homes is forest fuel, against 34% 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
Collingwood ranks 144th of the 255 towns in British Columbia for burn rate (0.004% a year), in the lower half; Oliver leads at 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.
Collingwood is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
No flood study is listed for Collingwood
Flood studies whose area touches Collingwood, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Collingwood has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia, 76% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Collingwood.
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 Collingwood’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.”
Shaking is Collingwood’s costliest hazard: $0.43 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.
Collingwood’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.
Nobody publishes earthquake risk for Collingwood alone, so this card uses the figure for the city of Vancouver.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in British Columbia is $0.36; Collingwood, at $0.43, is right beside it, and Duncan tops the list 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.
Only 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Collingwood.
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 Collingwood’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).
1.2% of homes tested around Collingwood are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 1.2% over the guideline, the area around Collingwood is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Vancouver health region, with Collingwood one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Collingwood than in most towns in British Columbia: 1.2% against 1.8%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Collingwood with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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 Collingwood 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 Collingwood
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Collingwood; 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 Collingwood, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Collingwood
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collingwood | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Norquay Village 11,287 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Garden Village 6,492 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Renfrew-Collingwood 23,392 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Killarney 32,167 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Broadview 8,008 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| Metrotown 36,594 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
Norquay Village (low) has the heaviest fire record of Collingwood’s neighbours, and Collingwood (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Collingwood faces
Practical steps for Collingwood’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Collingwood.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Collingwood’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Collingwood’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Collingwood takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Collingwood
How big is the earthquake risk in Collingwood?
About $0.43 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Collingwood.
Is Collingwood at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Collingwood’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.
How is Collingwood’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Collingwood B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Collingwood flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Collingwood (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Collingwood?
1.2% of the 83 homes Health Canada tested around Collingwood 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).