Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Earthquakes are Marpole’s biggest hazard: $0.43 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 14 times the norm
Burn scars are few around Marpole, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (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). Marpole grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Marpole’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Marpole: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Marpole faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Marpole grades B− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Marpole’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: 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.
Little of the land around Marpole has burned: 0.2% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Marpole’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Marpole burns at 0.004% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The forest starts beyond town: 2.2% of the land within 5 km of Marpole’s homes is forest fuel, against 31% 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
Oliver tops the 255 towns in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Marpole, at 0.004%, comes 144th.
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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Marpole stays low, with 92%.
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.
City of Vancouver has mapped flooding for Marpole (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Marpole: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
City of Vancouver studied flooding in an area that includes Marpole (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
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Marpole has one too.
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 Marpole 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.
Shaking is Marpole’s costliest hazard: $0.43 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Marpole’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
Typical for its province: Marpole 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.
Only 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Marpole.
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 Marpole’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). · Earthquake risk published for the city of Vancouver, not by town
Radon runs low around Marpole: 1.2% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Vancouver health region
A lower share than most: 1.2% of tested homes around Marpole, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Marpole’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.
Under 5% puts Marpole 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Marpole 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 Marpole
Alerts for Marpole 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 Marpole 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)
Hazards in the places around Marpole
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marpole | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Oakridge 14,071 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Sunset 37,186 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Kerrisdale 14,105 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Shaughnessy 8,034 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| South Cambie 9,846 · 4.1 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Riley Park 23,682 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
The fire record around Shaughnessy is a touch heavier than Marpole’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 Marpole faces
Practical steps for Marpole’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
- 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 Marpole’s.
- 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 Marpole until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Marpole without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Marpole’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 Marpole
Is Marpole at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Marpole’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 Marpole flood?
A flood study covers Marpole 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 Marpole?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Marpole $0.43 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Marpole’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Marpole B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Marpole?
1.2% of the 83 homes Health Canada tested around Marpole 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).