Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0Earthquakes are Kerrisdale’s biggest hazard: $0.43 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 14 times the norm
Fire seldom reaches Kerrisdale: since 1986, 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.004% a year). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Kerrisdale grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Kerrisdale’s hazards
For Kerrisdale, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Kerrisdale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Kerrisdale: B−
The grade weighs Kerrisdale’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Kerrisdale: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Kerrisdale’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.004% of the land a year, Kerrisdale’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Kerrisdale’s homes came within 5.6 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest fuel covers 5.9% of the land close to Kerrisdale and 35% across 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
Kerrisdale 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.
Some fire is mapped around Kerrisdale, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
Kerrisdale is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by City of Vancouver
Flood studies whose area touches Kerrisdale, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Kerrisdale is City of Vancouver’s, dated 2014; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Vancouver Coastal Flood Risk Assessment | City of Vancouver | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Kerrisdale with 76% of towns in British Columbia; Canada’s share is 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 Kerrisdale’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Shaking is Kerrisdale’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.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Kerrisdale loses $0.43, 14.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Kerrisdale at $0.43 beside a median in British Columbia of $0.36, with Duncan on top 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.
Kerrisdale is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 3.1% rank higher.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Kerrisdale is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Vancouver
1.2% of homes tested around Kerrisdale 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 Kerrisdale is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Kerrisdale doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Vancouver health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Kerrisdale’s area, at 1.2%, is below the median in British Columbia (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 Kerrisdale; 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.
Whatever Kerrisdale’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).
Where to get warnings in Kerrisdale
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kerrisdale; 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 Kerrisdale come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Kerrisdale
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kerrisdale | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Arbutus Ridge 15,083 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Shaughnessy 8,034 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Oakridge 14,071 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Dunbar-Southlands 21,117 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Marpole 28,182 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Musqueam 2 1,879 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.60 | 1.2% | Yes |
Arbutus Ridge burns a little more than Kerrisdale, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kerrisdale faces
What to do about the hazards Kerrisdale 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Kerrisdale takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Kerrisdale.
- 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 Kerrisdale.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Kerrisdale’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kerrisdale
Is Kerrisdale at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Kerrisdale since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Kerrisdale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Kerrisdale’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Kerrisdale flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Kerrisdale; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kerrisdale?
About $0.43 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Kerrisdale.
Is radon a problem in Kerrisdale?
Around Kerrisdale, 83 survey homes were tested and 1.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).