Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0Earthquakes are Killarney’s biggest hazard: $0.43 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 14 times the norm
Burn scars are few around Killarney, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.003% a year). Radon is lower than usual: 1.2% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Killarney grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Killarney’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Killarney: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Killarney faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Killarney grades B− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Killarney’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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Killarney: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Killarney’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Killarney’s 0.003% is in the low band.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 5.2 km from Killarney’s homes, none within 5 km.
Forest fuel rises from 1.2% within 5 km of Killarney to 32% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from homes.
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
Oliver tops the 255 towns in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Killarney, at 0.003%, comes 191st.
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, Killarney 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.
A flood study covers Killarney, from City of Vancouver: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Killarney, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Killarney the inventory points to City of Vancouver’s 2014 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Vancouver Coastal Flood Risk Assessment | City of Vancouver | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia: 76% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Killarney is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Killarney floods.
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 Killarney: $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.
At $0.43 per $1,000, Killarney carries roughly 14.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Killarney runs at $0.43 a year, near the $0.36 of the typical town in British Columbia; Duncan has $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.
Killarney 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).
The model counts damage to Killarney’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk published for the city of Vancouver, not by town
Radon runs low around Killarney: 1.2% of tested 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
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Killarney’s area has fewer, 1.2%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Killarney 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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Killarney; 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Killarney can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Killarney
Alerts for Killarney 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Killarney to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Killarney
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Killarney | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Collingwood 18,399 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Victoria-Fraserview 31,095 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Norquay Village 11,287 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Metrotown 36,594 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
| South Slope 8,989 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | Yes |
| Garden Village 6,492 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.36 | 0% | None listed |
The fire record around Collingwood is a touch heavier than Killarney’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Killarney faces
What to do about the hazards Killarney 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
- 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 Killarney.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Killarney takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Killarney’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Killarney’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Killarney
How is Killarney’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Killarney B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Killarney?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.2% of 83 homes tested in Killarney’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Killarney flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Killarney; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Killarney?
About $0.43 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Killarney.
Is Killarney at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Killarney has burned since 1986, the last in 2018, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).