Cariboo, Electoral Area H

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, 3 wildfires of 1,000 ha or more burned in Area H, together 7,524 ha, 3% of its land (ground that burned twice counts once). The most here was unnamed fire C41191 in 2021, 3,278 ha.

1. 2021Unnamed fire C411913,278 ha in all3,278 ha here
2. 2021Unnamed fire C411003,257 ha in all3,256 ha here
3. 2018Unnamed fire K221981,044 ha in all · 95% of it here989 ha here

Smaller mapped fires since 2016

Since 2016, the BC Wildfire Service mapped 31 smaller fires (under 1,000 ha) that reached Area H, newest first. This season's are as mapped by November 9, 2026.

1. 2026Unnamed fire C420061.5 ha in all1.5 ha here
2. 2026Unnamed fire C401520.4 ha in all0.4 ha here
3. 2026Unnamed fire C401270.2 ha in all0.2 ha here
4. 2025Cougar Lake wildfire66 ha in all66 ha here
5. 2024Unnamed fire C41350162 ha in all162 ha here
6. 2024Unnamed fire K220922.9 ha in all2.9 ha here
7. 2023Unnamed fire K2254210 ha in all10 ha here
8. 2021Unnamed fire C41515330 ha in all · 73% of it here242 ha here

And 23 more

1. 2021Unnamed fire C4114644 ha in all44 ha here
2. 2021Unnamed fire C4039624 ha in all24 ha here
3. 2021Unnamed fire C4111919 ha in all · 72% of it here14 ha here
4. 2021Unnamed fire C4111418 ha in all18 ha here
5. 2021Unnamed fire C411397.2 ha in all7.2 ha here
6. 2021Unnamed fire C402714.2 ha in all4.2 ha here
7. 2021Schoolhouse Park wildfire1.5 ha in all1.5 ha here
8. 2019Unnamed fire C406544.2 ha in all4.2 ha here
9. 2018Unnamed fire C42358597 ha in all597 ha here
10. 2018Unnamed fire C42138588 ha in all588 ha here
11. 2018Unnamed fire C42393346 ha in all · 63% of it here219 ha here
12. 2018Unnamed fire C41844326 ha in all326 ha here
13. 2018Unnamed fire C41848168 ha in all168 ha here
14. 2018Unnamed fire C42610111 ha in all111 ha here
15. 2018Unnamed fire C4235751 ha in all51 ha here
16. 2018Unnamed fire C4185426 ha in all26 ha here
17. 2018Houseman Road wildfire16 ha in all16 ha here
18. 2018Unnamed fire C4241115 ha in all15 ha here
19. 2018Unnamed fire C4213312 ha in all12 ha here
20. 2018Unnamed fire C400284 ha in all4 ha here
21. 2017South Canim Lake wildfire195 ha in all195 ha here
22. 2017Unnamed fire C4170730 ha in all30 ha here
23. 2017Unnamed fire C415721.1 ha in all1.1 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 H's land is 55% NDT3 (burned in large fires about every 100 to 150 years), 20% NDT1 (rarely burned, about every 250 to 350 years and in patches), 14% NDT2 (burned in large fires about every 200 years), 10% NDT4 (burned often and lightly, every 4 to 50 years) and 1% NDT5 (alpine tundra and subalpine parkland). Its main biogeoclimatic zones are Sub-Boreal Spruce (37%), Interior Cedar–Hemlock (29%) and Engelmann Spruce–Subalpine Fir (25%). 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 5 wildfire events with an evacuation order or alert over Area H, 2 with an order. The latest order: South of Canim Lake, July 2021.

1. 2021South of Canim LakeJuly 2021 · evacuation order · Cariboo Regional District239 homes
2. 2021Succour LakeJuly 2021 · evacuation alert · Cariboo Regional District70 homes
3. 2021Canim Lake WildfireJuly 2021 · evacuation alert · Cariboo Regional District681 homes
4. 2018Lang Lake WildfireAugust 2018 · evacuation alert · Cariboo Regional District236 homes
5. 2017Gustafsen WildfireJuly 2017 · evacuation order and alert · Cariboo Regional District2,162 homes

Listed when an order or alert area covered at least 5% of the land in Area H, or lay mostly in Area H 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 H. 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 H.

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.

3 landslides are recorded inside Area H in the Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database (version 14.0): 2 earth slides and 1 debris slide. 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 9 dams in Area H, 1 of them classed High or above for the harm a failure would do downstream: Chris Lake Dam (High). One of them is 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 H has 5 or more years of yearly peak flows: Bridge Creek near 100 Mile House peaked highest at 21.6 m³/s in 1990 (6 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.

Radon

In the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap health region, 7 of the 109 homes tested (6.4%) 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 H 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 6.8 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).

In Area H, a zone limited to detached houses must allow at least one secondary suite or detached accessory home (a garden suite or carriage house) next to a house. A floor of 3 or 4 homes applies on rural land only inside an urban containment boundary drawn in a regional growth strategy, and most rural land is outside one. None of it applies on land in an Islands Trust local trust area or under a rural land use bylaw, and in the Agricultural Land Reserve the Commission's limits come first. How many homes you can build on a lot.

The Province's principal residence requirement doesn't apply in Area H (list in force from June 1, 2026), so the provincial rule doesn't limit short-term rentals to the host's home. Local bylaws, including the zone's own rules, can be stricter. Hosts anywhere in BC register each unit with the provincial registry. Short-term rental rules in BC.

Reports for rural lots in Area H can't name the zone: the Cariboo Regional District doesn't publish its zoning map as open data. They show what the bylaw's rural and lakeshore zones allow and say to ask.

• South Cariboo Area Zoning Bylaw No. 3501, 19997 rural and lakeshore zones summarised in plain words, checked against the bylaw 2026-10-29. South Cariboo Area Zoning Bylaw No. 3501 zones all of Electoral Areas G, H and L, from Lac La Hache and 108 Mile Ranch to Canim Lake, Lone Butte and Green Lake; other parts of the district have bylaws of their own.

Ask the CRD's planning department which zone a lot is in, or find it on the CRD's planning map, and confirm what it allows before you buy or build.

The federal boundaries put 4 reserves of Tsq'escen' First Nation in or beside Area H. On reserve land the First Nation decides land use, not the local zoning bylaw; a report says when a lot is on reserve land or within 500 m of it. Reserve land in BC, by place.

The Cariboo Regional District's building inspection covers all of Area H (Building Bylaw No. 4997): building, adding on, moving or demolishing a building needs a building permit, and the work is inspected. Our reading of the Cariboo Regional District's own page, checked 2026-10-07. Do you need a building permit on rural land?

Check one lot: is it in the ALR? · is the soil good for farming? · is it in a community watershed?

Source: Agricultural Land Reserve polygons, Agricultural Land Commission (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); 2021 census subdivision boundaries, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence).