Photo: Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada · CC BY 2.0Flood mapping exists for Whistler: 1 on record, latest by Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Burn scars are few around Whistler, with 0.4% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.01% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.081 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 2.5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Whistler grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Whistler’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Whistler: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Whistler faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Whistler: B+
The grade weighs Whistler’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: #18 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,098 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 Whistler: 0.2% within 5 km, 0.4% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Whistler’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Whistler burns at 0.01% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest crowds in on Whistler: 74% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 49% 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
Whistler sits mid-table in British Columbia: 97th 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Whistler 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 Whistler, from Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Whistler, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Whistler, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy’s from 1993, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whistler Area (Resort Municipality) Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1993 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Whistler 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 Whistler.
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 Whistler’s costliest hazard: $0.081 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.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Whistler loses $0.081, 2.7 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in British Columbia expects $0.36 a year in shaking damage; Whistler expects less, $0.081, and Duncan the most, $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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 28% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Whistler.
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 model counts damage to Whistler’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
2.5% of homes tested around Whistler are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Whistler: 2.5% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Whistler 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.
Whistler 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Whistler only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the North Shore/Coast Garibaldi health region
Weather and fire alerts for Whistler
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Whistler; 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 Whistler, 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)
Get ready for what Whistler faces
What to do about the hazards Whistler 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Whistler sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Whistler floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Whistler’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Whistler’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Whistler
Does Whistler flood?
Whistler’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Whistler?
About $0.081 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Whistler.
Is Whistler at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.4% of the land around Whistler since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Whistler?
Around Whistler, 81 survey homes were tested and 2.5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Whistler’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Whistler 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).