Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0Earthquakes are Mount Pleasant’s biggest hazard: $0.43 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 14 times the norm
Little of the land around Mount Pleasant has burned: 0.2% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.004% 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. Mount Pleasant grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Mount Pleasant’s hazards
For Mount Pleasant, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Mount Pleasant faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Mount Pleasant grades B− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Mount Pleasant with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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 Mount Pleasant has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Mount Pleasant’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.004% of the land a year around Mount Pleasant, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The 5 km ring around Mount Pleasant’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 9.1 km out.
Close to Mount Pleasant there is little to burn (2.2% forest fuel within 5 km), but 41% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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
Some fire is mapped around Mount Pleasant (0.004% a year), but it ranks only 144th of 255 towns in British Columbia; Oliver has 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Mount Pleasant 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 Mount Pleasant, from City of Vancouver: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Mount Pleasant: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
City of Vancouver studied flooding in an area that includes Mount Pleasant (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
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Mount Pleasant included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Mount Pleasant.
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 Mount Pleasant: $0.43 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Mount Pleasant loses $0.43, 14.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Mount Pleasant’s $0.43 is close to the median in British Columbia, $0.36; Duncan is highest 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.
Mount Pleasant 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 Mount Pleasant 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). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of Vancouver
Radon runs low around Mount Pleasant: 1.2% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Vancouver health region: radon tests
At 1.2% over the guideline, the area around Mount Pleasant is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; around Mount Pleasant it is 1.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Mount Pleasant, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
A low area share in Mount Pleasant doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Mount Pleasant
Alerts for Mount Pleasant 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 Mount Pleasant 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 Mount Pleasant
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Pleasant | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Strathcona 13,783 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Little Saigon 11,086 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Riley Park 23,682 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Yaletown 40,297 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| South Cambie 9,846 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Fairview 33,969 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
South Cambie burns a little more than Mount Pleasant, 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 Mount Pleasant faces
What to do about the hazards Mount Pleasant 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Mount Pleasant, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Mount Pleasant 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 Mount Pleasant’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Mount Pleasant.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mount Pleasant
Does Mount Pleasant flood?
There is flood mapping for Mount Pleasant on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Mount Pleasant?
Around Mount Pleasant, 83 survey homes were tested and 1.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Mount Pleasant’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Mount Pleasant grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mount Pleasant?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Mount Pleasant $0.43 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Mount Pleasant at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Mount Pleasant since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).