Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Earthquake risk in White Rock runs 20 times the typical Canadian town’s: $0.60 per $1,000 a year
Wildfire is rare near White Rock: 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.004% a year. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives White Rock a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about White Rock’s hazards
For White Rock, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What White Rock faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in White Rock: B−
Earthquake risk and radon make White Rock’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #96 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,572 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 70 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around White Rock has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around White Rock’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.004% a year keeps White Rock in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Since 1986 the nearest fire to White Rock’s homes came within 15 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest fuel is denser close to White Rock (11% within 5 km) than further out (5.5% 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
In the lower half in British Columbia: White Rock at 0.004% a year, 144th of 255, far from Oliver’s 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, White Rock 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.
City of Surrey has mapped flooding for White Rock (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for White Rock: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
City of Surrey holds the flood mapping that covers White Rock (2015), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serpentine & Nicomekl River Climate Change Floodplain Review Phase 2 | City of Surrey | 2015 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, White Rock included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for White Rock.
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 White Rock: $0.60 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 20.1 times the typical $0.030: White Rock’s $0.60 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in British Columbia expects $0.36 a year; White Rock expects $0.60, and Duncan $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.
White Rock is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 0.8% rank higher.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for White Rock.
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 White Rock: 0% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
White Rock’s survey area reads 0% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around White Rock than in most towns in British Columbia: 0% 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 White Rock’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.
A low area share in White Rock 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 Fraser South health region
Where to get warnings in White Rock
Alerts for White Rock 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 White Rock 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)
How White Rock’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Rock | Low | $0.60 | 0% | Yes |
| Semiahmoo Town Centre 13,381 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Sunnyside 16,784 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| South Surrey 6,431 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Grandview 16,947 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Ocean Park 10,845 · 3.9 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | None listed |
| Douglas 4,555 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
Semiahmoo Town Centre (low) has the heaviest fire record of White Rock’s neighbours, and White Rock (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what White Rock faces
Practical steps for White Rock’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?
- 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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for White Rock without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, White Rock’s included.
- 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 White Rock.
- 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 White Rock until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in White Rock
How big is the earthquake risk in White Rock?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in White Rock $0.60 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does White Rock flood?
A flood study covers White Rock on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is White Rock at risk of wildfire?
Some, but White Rock’s low band (0.2% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2018) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in White Rock?
The area’s survey found 0% of 70 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in White Rock.
How is White Rock’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
White Rock grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers 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).