Photo: Marlon Richmond · CC BY-SA 4.0Earthquakes are Sunset’s biggest hazard: $0.43 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 14 times the norm
Little of the land around Sunset has burned: 0.2% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.004% a year. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Sunset a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Sunset’s hazards
For Sunset, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Sunset faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Sunset grades B− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Sunset’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 Sunset: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.2% within 5 km
Past fire around Sunset’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.004% of the land near Sunset burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Forest fuel rises from 1.6% within 5 km of Sunset to 33% 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
Some fire is mapped around Sunset (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.
Sunset is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 Sunset, from City of Vancouver: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sunset: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Sunset, City of Vancouver’s from 2014, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Vancouver Coastal Flood Risk Assessment | City of Vancouver | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Sunset is one of the 76% of towns in British Columbia with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Sunset.
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 Sunset: $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; Sunset loses $0.43, 14.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in British Columbia is $0.36; Sunset, at $0.43, is right beside it, and Duncan tops the list 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Sunset: 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).
For Sunset the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Vancouver
1.2% of homes tested around Sunset are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 1.2% over the guideline, the area around Sunset is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Sunset’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.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Sunset, 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 Sunset 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). · Data for radon tests covers the Vancouver health region
Where to get warnings in Sunset
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sunset; 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 Sunset 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 Sunset
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunset | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Victoria-Fraserview 31,095 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Oakridge 14,071 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Kensington-Cedar Cottage 39,668 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Marpole 28,182 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Riley Park 23,682 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Little Saigon 11,086 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Sunset (low); Victoria-Fraserview comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sunset faces
What to do about the hazards Sunset 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 Sunset.
- 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 Sunset.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Sunset’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Sunset takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sunset
How is Sunset’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sunset’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Sunset at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Sunset since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Sunset flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Sunset; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sunset?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Sunset’s buildings lose $0.43 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Sunset?
Around Sunset, 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).