Bulkley-Nechako, Electoral Area F

Its land, ranked in BC

Shares of the land area, worked out from the Province's maps. Fire perimeters before the 1950s are less complete. A title or a past fire somewhere in the area says nothing about a given lot: a property report checks the parcel itself.

Large fires (1,000 ha or more) since 1990

Since 1990, 14 wildfires of 1,000 ha or more burned in Area F, together 94,419 ha, 17% of its land (ground that burned twice counts once). The most here was the Tatuk Lake wildfire in 2023, 44,439 ha.

1. 2023Tatuk Lake wildfire44,643 ha in all44,439 ha here
2. 2023Greer Creek wildfire4,768 ha in all4,768 ha here
3. 2023Unnamed fire G415601,144 ha in all · 96% of it here1,099 ha here
4. 2023Taigai Lake wildfire2,264 ha in all · 7% of it here148 ha here
5. 2021Cutoff Creek wildfire33,073 ha in all · 19% of it here6,140 ha here
6. 2021Grizzly Lake wildfire4,892 ha in all4,892 ha here
7. 2021Unnamed fire G111261,475 ha in all · 27% of it here393 ha here
8. 2018Unnamed fire R1149892,412 ha in all · 1% of it here1,182 ha here
9. 2018Unnamed fire G106962,245 ha in all · 6% of it here129 ha here
10. 2017Big Bend Creek wildfire6,722 ha in all · 7% of it here467 ha here

And 4 more

1. 2015Little Bobtail Lake wildfire25,533 ha in all · 73% of it here18,636 ha here
2. 2010Unnamed fire G401516,097 ha in all6,097 ha here
3. 2005Unnamed fire G4010010,018 ha in all10,018 ha here
4. 2004Unnamed fire G401891,850 ha in all1,850 ha here

Smaller mapped fires since 2016

Since 2016, the BC Wildfire Service mapped 30 smaller fires (under 1,000 ha) that reached Area F, newest first. This season's are as mapped by November 9, 2026.

1. 2026Unnamed fire G402091.8 ha in all1.8 ha here
2. 2025Unnamed fire G422981.7 ha in all1.7 ha here
3. 2024Unnamed fire G4011634 ha in all34 ha here
4. 2024Unnamed fire G119531.6 ha in all1.6 ha here
5. 2023Unnamed fire G41569801 ha in all801 ha here
6. 2023Tsah Creek wildfire501 ha in all501 ha here
7. 2023Unnamed fire G41466262 ha in all262 ha here
8. 2023Unnamed fire G4130433 ha in all33 ha here

And 22 more

1. 2023Unnamed fire G4194922 ha in all22 ha here
2. 2023Unnamed fire G1145414 ha in all14 ha here
3. 2023Unnamed fire G4317112 ha in all12 ha here
4. 2023Unnamed fire G414257.1 ha in all7.1 ha here
5. 2023Unnamed fire G418482.4 ha in all2.4 ha here
6. 2023Unnamed fire G416822.3 ha in all2.3 ha here
7. 2021Unnamed fire G125642.3 ha in all2.3 ha here
8. 2018Unnamed fire G42036273 ha in all273 ha here
9. 2018Unnamed fire G40243255 ha in all255 ha here
10. 2018Unnamed fire G4088643 ha in all43 ha here
11. 2018Unnamed fire G1197020 ha in all20 ha here
12. 2018Unnamed fire G422775.9 ha in all5.9 ha here
13. 2018Unnamed fire G429325.4 ha in all5.4 ha here
14. 2018Unnamed fire G406031.4 ha in all1.4 ha here
15. 2018Unnamed fire G412621 ha in all1 ha here
16. 2017Grizzly Lake wildfire180 ha in all180 ha here
17. 2017Unnamed fire G415587.3 ha in all7.3 ha here
18. 2017Unnamed fire G409602.4 ha in all2.4 ha here
19. 2016Unnamed fire G4003618 ha in all18 ha here
20. 2016Unnamed fire G401941.7 ha in all1.7 ha here
21. 2016Unnamed fire G400141 ha in all1 ha here
22. 2016Unnamed fire G400471 ha in all1 ha here

Small fires that were never mapped as a perimeter aren't listed: the BC Wildfire Service maps an outline for only some of the fires it records. Past fire is history, not a forecast. The chance of fire on a lot today depends on what the record doesn't show: the forest and grass around it, the slope, what has been thinned or burned since, and how far it is from a fire hall. Every BC season and large fire since 1990.

Sources: BC Wildfire Fire Perimeters – Historical, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Perimeters – Current, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Incident Locations – Historical, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Locations – Current, BC Wildfire Service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), as published on November 10, 2026; 2021 census subdivision boundaries, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence). Outlines simplified and places measured by PlaceDossier.

How the land burned

On the Province's ecosystem map, Area F's land is 92% NDT3 (burned in large fires about every 100 to 150 years) and 8% NDT2 (burned in large fires about every 200 years). Its main biogeoclimatic zone is Sub-Boreal Spruce (92%). This is how the land burned before fires were put out, not its fire risk today. A report names the type over a lot. Every place's natural fire regime.

Source: BEC Map (biogeoclimatic zones and natural disturbance types), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), read 2026-10-12; areas worked out on the census boundaries.

Evacuations since April 2017

Since April 2017, the Province's record holds 9 wildfire events with an evacuation order or alert over Area F, 4 with an order. The latest order: Tatuk Lake Wildfire, August 2023.

1. 2023Tatuk Lake WildfireAugust 2023 · evacuation order and alert · Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako69 homes
2. 2023Netchako Southeast Area FiresJuly 2023 · evacuation alert · Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako
3. 2021Cutoff Creek WildfireJuly 2021 · evacuation order and alert · Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako8 homes
4. 2021Tucker Lake WildfireJuly 2021 · evacuation order · Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako64 homes
5. 2021Grizzly Lake WildfireJuly 2021 · evacuation order and alert · Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako71 homes
6. 2018Shovel Lake WildfireAugust 2018 · evacuation alert · Regional District Bulkley-Nechako221 homes
7. 2018Finger-Tatuk & Chutanli WildfireAugust 2018 · evacuation alert · Regional District Bulkley-Nechako3 homes
8. 2017Sutherland Road WildfireJuly 2017 · evacuation alert · Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako41 homes

And 1 more

1. 2017Big Bend Creek WildfireJuly 2017 · evacuation alert · Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako3 homes

Listed when an order or alert area covered at least 5% of the land in Area F, or lay mostly in Area F and held at least 5% as many homes as the 2021 census counted there. An order means people were told to leave; an alert, to be ready to leave. Homes are the record's own counts, area by area, shown where the areas lie mostly in Area F. The Province's record starts in April 2017: earlier evacuations aren't in it. A lot's report checks every order and alert over the lot itself, and any in effect now.

Sources: Historical Orders and Alerts, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), as published on November 2, 2026; 2021 census subdivision boundaries and dwelling counts, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence). Each order and alert area placed in the municipalities and electoral areas it covers by us.

Evacuations for floods, landslides and other hazards since April 2017

None of the flood, landslide or other non-fire evacuation orders or alerts in the Province's record since April 2017 covered 5% or more of the land or homes in Area F.

Sources: Historical Orders and Alerts, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), as published on November 2, 2026; 2021 census subdivision boundaries and dwelling counts, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence). Each order and alert area placed in the municipalities and electoral areas it covers by us.

46 landslides are recorded inside Area F in the Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database (version 14.0): 41 earth slides, 4 earth falls and 1 earth flow. The database lists slides known to have happened, mapped from inventories, satellite images and lidar. It isn't a hazard map, and some parts of BC are mapped in far more detail than others. Landslides near a given lot.

The Province lists 33 dams in Area F, none classed High or above for the harm a failure would do downstream. Of these, 2 are recorded as breached (failed). The class rates what a failure would do, not how likely one is; a report names the dams within 1 km of a lot. Dams in BC, by place.

One Water Survey of Canada gauge in Area F has 5 or more years of yearly peak flows: Corkscrew Creek near the Mouth peaked highest at 11.8 m³/s in 1997 (10 years on record). A gauge's record is the river where it stands, not a flood line; a report gives the nearest gauge on a river by the lot. River gauges in BC, by place.

Poor-air days: at the Vanderhoof Courthouse air monitoring station, 3.4 km from Vanderhoof, fine particles passed the level of BC's 24-hour objective (25 µg/m³) on a median of 14 days a year over the 9 years with a full record, 2015 to 2025; the most was 54 days in 2018, most of them in August. These days fell both in the wildfire season and in winter (our reading: wildfire smoke in summer, wood smoke held in by still air in winter). How smoky it gets across BC.

Radon

In the Northern Interior health region, 25 of the 208 homes tested (12%) in Health Canada's 2009–2011 survey were at or above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline; across BC, 143 of 1,817 (7.9%).

The survey tested about a hundred volunteer homes per health region, with one long-term test each. That gives a rough regional picture: it isn't a map, and a region where few or none tested high can still have homes above the guideline. The only way to know is to test the home: radon and buying a home in BC.

Source: Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011), Health Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Health Service Delivery Area Boundaries, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).

Check one lot: has it burned? · is it on a floodplain map? · is it behind a dike? · is there a dam nearby? · landslides nearby? · contaminated sites nearby? · radon? · how much is too steep?

Source: Agricultural Land Reserve polygons, Agricultural Land Commission (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Fire perimeters – historical, BC Wildfire Service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Mineral, placer and coal tenures, Mineral Titles Branch (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database, version 14.0 (May 2026), Brideau et al. (CC BY 4.0); 2021 census subdivision boundaries, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence).

Area F is outside the Province's speculation and vacancy tax area, so the tax doesn't apply to a home here. Our summary of the Province's pages, read 2026-10-04. Where the tax applies, and who pays.

The typical home here is the median value owners gave the 2021 census, and the typical household's income is the median for 2020: a home that costs 3.5 years of income took that many years of a typical household's whole income. "Typical" for places its size is the middle of BC's rural electoral areas.

Source: Census of Population 2021, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence).

Normals for 1981-2010 at the Vanderhoof station, about 5 km from the middle of the area's addresses at Vanderhoof (of the communities here with a station within 30 km, the one with the most addresses); ECCC has no fuller 1991-2020 set for it. Its normals don't include the frost-free period, days with snow on the ground or degree days, so those are left out. * Based on at least 20 or 15 of the 30 years, short of the World Meteorological Organization's standard: treat as a rougher guide. The records are single days measured at the station: the most rain, snow and wind it saw in its record up to 2010 (ECCC's 1981-2010 sets give records over the station's whole history, so some dates are older than 1981). Each is one event, not what to expect in a year, and the lot can get more or less than the station. Elevation matters a lot in BC: a hillside lot can be much colder and snowier than the station.

Plant hardiness zone: most homes here are in zone 4a (90%); 10% are in 3b, on Natural Resources Canada's 2025 map. Higher numbers are milder winters. What the zones mean.

Solar panels: a south-facing panel tilted at the latitude would make about 910 kWh a year for each kW of panels at the middle of the area's addresses at Vanderhoof, about 30 of it in December (estimated from Natural Resources Canada's 1998-2022 sunshine map). An open sky is assumed: the hills, trees and buildings around a lot cut it, and a report sets the lot's own skyline beside it. What solar panels would make in BC.

By the 2050s (2041-2070) at Vanderhoof, climate models project about 6 more days over 30 °C a year, a longest frost-free run about 35 days longer and about 4 percentage points less of winter's precipitation falling as snow, each against the same models' 1971-2000 (model projections under SSP2-4.5, a middle path for emissions). The models work on a grid of about 9 by 6 km, which averages valley floors with the slopes around them, so their own figures can sit well off a station's normals and aren't comparable with them. Their own figures there: about 7 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 5 to 16 across the models), against about 1 day in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 140 days (range 130 to 155), against about 105; and about 90% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 82% to 92%), against about 94%. The ranges run from the 10th to the 90th percentile of the models' 2041-2070 figures. The 2050s across BC.

Light at night within 1 km of the middle of the area's addresses at Vanderhoof: none recorded from space, and darker than about 94% of BC's homes (2024 satellite record). A lot away from the centre can be much darker. How dark are BC's nights?

Lightning: around the middle of the area's addresses at Vanderhoof, a cloud-to-ground flash within 10 km on about 8 days a year and 0.21 flashes per km² a year, more than at 3 in 4 BC homes (the Canadian Lightning Detection Network, 1998-2025 average, on a grid of about 11 by 7 km).

Source: Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020 and 1981-2010, Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Plant hardiness zones of Canada (2025 map), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model (MRDEM-30), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Solar position: General Solar Position Calculations (NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory; Spencer, 1971) (Public domain); Daily average solar irradiance on tilted surfaces for all of Canada (1998-2022), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Photovoltaic Potential and Solar Resource Maps of Canada (performance ratio), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); Statistically downscaled climate indices from CMIP6 global climate models (CanDCS-M6), Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium, via the Canadian Centre for Climate Services (Open Government Licence – Canada); Air Quality and Climate Monitoring: Verified Hourly Air Quality and Meteorological Data (fine particulate matter, PM2.5), BC Ministry of Environment and Parks (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); VIIRS Nighttime Lights, 2024 annual composite, Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines (Elvidge et al. 2021, Remote Sensing 13(5):922), via Hengl, OpenGeoHub, Zenodo doi 10.5281/zenodo.7750174 (CC BY 4.0); Canadian Lightning Detection Network cloud-to-ground flashes (CanCPLDv1), Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).