Photo: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Earthquakes are West End’s biggest hazard: $0.43 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 14 times the norm
Little of the land around West End has burned: 0.2% within 25 km since 1986, or 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). West End grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about West End’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for West End: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What West End faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
West End grades B− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like West End 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near West End: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around West End’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.004% of the land around West End each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to West End’s homes came within 12 km, never inside 5 km.
The forest starts beyond town: 4.6% of the land within 5 km of West End’s homes is forest fuel, against 47% 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
Some fire is mapped around West End (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.
Some fire is mapped around West End, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
West End is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by City of Vancouver
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for West End: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches West End, 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
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; West End has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of West End’s homes are at risk.
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 West End’s costliest hazard: $0.43 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; West End loses $0.43, 14.4 times as much.
West End shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Vancouver.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around West End ($0.43) matches the middle in British Columbia ($0.36), far from Duncan’s $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 West End.
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 loss is to West End’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around West End: 1.2% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in West End’s area, at 1.2%. Nobody publishes radon tests for West End alone, so this card uses the figure for the Vancouver health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in British Columbia is 1.8% over 200 Bq/m³; around West End 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 West End, 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in West End only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for West End
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for West End; 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. |
For fires near West End, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around West End
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West End | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Davie Village 16,833 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Coal Harbour 10,407 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Granville Entertainment District 19,125 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Yaletown 40,297 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Kitsilano 27,320 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Fairview 33,969 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
Davie Village burns a little more than West End, 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 West End faces
What to do about the hazards West End 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 West End.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of West End’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for West End is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 West End’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in West End
How big is the earthquake risk in West End?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in West End $0.43 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is West End’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
West End grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in West End?
Around West End, 83 survey homes were tested and 1.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is West End at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around West End since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does West End flood?
There is flood mapping for West End on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).