Photo: John Newcomb · CC BY 3.0Shaking costs buildings in View Royal $0.91 a year per $1,000 of value, 30 times the typical town’s
Little of the land around View Royal has burned: 0.2% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.005% a year. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.8% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives View Royal a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about View Royal’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for View Royal: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What View Royal faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in View Royal: C+
The grade weighs View Royal’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: #190 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,808 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 55 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near View Royal: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.2% within 5 km
Past fire around View Royal’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.005% of the land near View Royal burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The nearer ring around View Royal is less wooded (34% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (67%).
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
At 0.005% a year, View Royal ranks 121st of the 255 towns in British Columbia; Oliver leads at 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, View Royal 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 View Royal, from Capital Regional District: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for View Royal: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For View Royal the inventory points to Capital Regional District’s 2021 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Regional Coastal Flood Inundation Mapping Project | Capital Regional District | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts View Royal with 76% of towns in British Columbia; Canada’s share is 58%.
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 View Royal 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.
Shaking is View Royal’s costliest hazard: $0.91 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; View Royal loses $0.91, 30.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.91, View Royal is above the typical town in British Columbia ($0.36); Duncan has the most 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 0.2% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than View Royal.
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 View Royal’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).
1.8% of homes tested around View Royal are over the radon 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 View Royal’s area, at 1.8%. Nobody publishes radon tests for View Royal alone, so this card uses the figure for the South Vancouver Island health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
View Royal’s area, at 1.8%, is close to 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.
View Royal 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in View Royal as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for View Royal
Alerts for View Royal 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 View Royal to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How View Royal’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Royal | Low | $0.91 | 1.8% | Yes |
| New Songhees 1A 2,052 · 2.1 km | Low | $1.02 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Esquimalt 19,512 · 4.0 km | Low | $1.25 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Colwood 22,794 · 5.3 km | Low | $1.09 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Langford 59,664 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.74 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Saanich 126,011 · 6.3 km | Low | $0.76 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Victoria 103,888 · 7.5 km | Low | $0.66 | 1.8% | Yes |
Langford burns a little more than View Royal, 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 View Royal faces
What to do about the hazards View Royal 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
- 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 View Royal until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of View Royal’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for View Royal without grading them.
- 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 View Royal’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in View Royal
How big is the earthquake risk in View Royal?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in View Royal $0.91 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does View Royal flood?
A flood study covers View Royal on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is View Royal’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
View Royal grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in View Royal?
Around View Royal, 55 survey homes were tested and 1.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is View Royal at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around View Royal since 1986 (last in 2024); 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).