Photo: Xicotencatl · CC BY-SA 4.0Shaking costs buildings in Kitsilano $0.43 a year per $1,000 of value, 14 times the typical town’s
Fire seldom reaches Kitsilano: 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). Kitsilano grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Kitsilano’s hazards
For Kitsilano, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Kitsilano faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Kitsilano grades B− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Kitsilano’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.
Little of the land around Kitsilano has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Kitsilano’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.005% of the land a year around Kitsilano, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Kitsilano’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 9.9 km away.
Forest fuel covers 11% of the land close to Kitsilano and 43% 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
Kitsilano 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 Kitsilano 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.
Kitsilano is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by City of Vancouver
Flood studies whose area touches Kitsilano, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
City of Vancouver studied flooding in an area that includes Kitsilano (2014); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| 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 Kitsilano is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Kitsilano to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Kitsilano $0.43 per $1,000 a year
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; Kitsilano loses $0.43, 14.4 times as much.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Vancouver, Kitsilano included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Kitsilano 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Kitsilano: 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Kitsilano.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Kitsilano: 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.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Kitsilano: 1.2% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Kitsilano 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.
Kitsilano is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Kitsilano’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Vancouver health region
Where to get warnings in Kitsilano
Alerts for Kitsilano 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Kitsilano are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Kitsilano’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitsilano | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Greektown 16,618 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Fairview 33,969 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Davie Village 16,833 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Granville Entertainment District 19,125 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Arbutus Ridge 15,083 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| West End 30,785 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
Nowhere around Kitsilano burns more: Greektown, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kitsilano faces
What to do about the hazards Kitsilano 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. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Kitsilano.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Kitsilano is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Kitsilano’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Kitsilano, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kitsilano
Is Kitsilano at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Kitsilano since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Kitsilano’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kitsilano B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Kitsilano?
Around Kitsilano, 83 survey homes were tested and 1.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Kitsilano flood?
There is flood mapping for Kitsilano on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kitsilano?
About $0.43 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Kitsilano.
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).