Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainWildfire low, radon 2.5%: how Welcome Beach stands on hazards
Burn scars are few around Welcome Beach, with 0.5% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.01% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.20 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Welcome Beach grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Welcome Beach’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Welcome Beach: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Welcome Beach faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Welcome Beach grades B− for hazard risk
For Welcome Beach, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #171 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,719 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.
Few fires near Welcome Beach: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.5% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Welcome Beach’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Welcome Beach fire takes 0.01% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Welcome Beach: 87% within 5 km and 90% 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
Welcome Beach sits mid-table in British Columbia: 90th of 255 towns, at 0.01% a year, well behind Oliver (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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Welcome Beach reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Welcome Beach
Flood studies whose area touches Welcome Beach, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Welcome Beach, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia, 76% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Welcome Beach.
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 Welcome Beach 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.”
Shaking is Welcome Beach’s costliest hazard: $0.20 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Roughly 6.7 times the typical $0.030: Welcome Beach’s $0.20 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.20, Welcome Beach is below the typical town 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.
Only 8.5% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Welcome Beach.
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 Welcome Beach’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).
Little radon around Welcome Beach: 2.5% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Welcome Beach’s survey area reads 2.5% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Welcome Beach than in most towns in British Columbia: 2.5% against 1.8%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Welcome Beach’s band, which holds 37%.
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 survey sampled homes around Welcome Beach; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the North Shore/Coast Garibaldi health region
Weather and fire alerts for Welcome Beach
Alerts for Welcome Beach 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 Welcome Beach 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 Welcome Beach
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welcome Beach | Low | $0.20 | 2.5% | None listed |
| Sechelt 11,558 · 11 km | Low | $0.33 | 2.5% | None listed |
| Electoral Area A, Sunshine Coast 3,256 · 16 km | Low | $0.14 | 2.5% | None listed |
Nowhere around Welcome Beach burns more: Sechelt, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Welcome Beach faces
Practical steps for Welcome Beach’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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 Welcome Beach’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Welcome Beach’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. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Welcome Beach until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Welcome Beach without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Welcome Beach
Is radon a problem in Welcome Beach?
The area’s survey found 2.5% of 81 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Welcome Beach.
How big is the earthquake risk in Welcome Beach?
About $0.20 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Welcome Beach.
Does Welcome Beach flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Welcome Beach, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Welcome Beach at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Welcome Beach’s low band (0.5% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Welcome Beach’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Welcome Beach B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).