Cariboo, Electoral Area L

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, one wildfire of 1,000 ha or more burned in Area L: the Elephant Hill wildfire in 2017, 6,735 ha here, 5% of its land.

1. 2017Elephant Hill wildfire192,017 ha in all · 4% of it here6,735 ha here

Smaller mapped fires since 2016

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

1. 2026Bowers Lake wildfire113 ha in all113 ha here
2. 2026Unnamed fire C4030014 ha in all14 ha here
3. 2026Unnamed fire C400813.8 ha in all3.8 ha here
4. 2026Unnamed fire C413363.4 ha in all3.4 ha here
5. 2026Unnamed fire C409301.8 ha in all1.8 ha here
6. 2026Unnamed fire C401051.6 ha in all1.6 ha here
7. 2026Unnamed fire C422691.6 ha in all1.6 ha here
8. 2025Bowers Lake wildfire52 ha in all52 ha here

And 22 more

1. 2025Unnamed fire C4007335 ha in all35 ha here
2. 2025Windy Creek wildfire23 ha in all · 18% of it here4.1 ha here
3. 2025Unnamed fire C401511.7 ha in all1.7 ha here
4. 2024Unnamed fire C421461.5 ha in all1.5 ha here
5. 2024Unnamed fire C419540.6 ha in all0.6 ha here
6. 2023Unnamed fire C400561 ha in all1 ha here
7. 2021Unnamed fire C41102652 ha in all652 ha here
8. 2021Unnamed fire C41515330 ha in all · 27% of it here88 ha here
9. 2021Unnamed fire C4114389 ha in all89 ha here
10. 2021Unnamed fire C4131056 ha in all56 ha here
11. 2021Unnamed fire C4130834 ha in all34 ha here
12. 2021Unnamed fire C4114428 ha in all28 ha here
13. 2021Unnamed fire C4114526 ha in all26 ha here
14. 2021Unnamed fire C4115520 ha in all20 ha here
15. 2021Unnamed fire C4114920 ha in all20 ha here
16. 2021Unnamed fire C4111919 ha in all · 28% of it here5.3 ha here
17. 2021Unnamed fire C4108716 ha in all16 ha here
18. 2021Unnamed fire C411256.8 ha in all6.8 ha here
19. 2021Unnamed fire C410886.7 ha in all6.7 ha here
20. 2021Unnamed fire C410913.9 ha in all3.9 ha here
21. 2019Unnamed fire C401922 ha in all2 ha here
22. 2018Unnamed fire C431299.7 ha in all9.7 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 L's land is 71% NDT3 (burned in large fires about every 100 to 150 years) and 29% NDT4 (burned often and lightly, every 4 to 50 years). Its main biogeoclimatic zones are Sub-Boreal Spruce (59%) and Interior Douglas-fir (29%). In the dry forest and grassland of NDT4, a century of putting fires out has let many stands fill in, building up fuel that can carry a crown fire instead of a light surface fire. 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 4 wildfire events with an evacuation order or alert over Area L, each with an order. The latest order: Pear Lake Wildfire, July 2026.

1. 2026Pear Lake WildfireJuly 2026 · evacuation order and alert · Cariboo Regional District516 homes
2. 2021Flat Lake WildfireJuly 2021 · evacuation order and alert · Cariboo Regional District2,482 homes
3. 2021SW of Deka Lake WildfireJune 2021 · evacuation order · Cariboo Regional District688 homes
4. 2017Gustafsen WildfireJuly 2017 · evacuation order and alert · Cariboo Regional District

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

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.

6 landslides are recorded inside Area L in the Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database (version 14.0): 5 earth slides and 1 rock 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 21 dams in Area L, none classed High or above for the harm a failure would do downstream. 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.

3 Water Survey of Canada gauges in Area L have 5 or more years of yearly peak flows: Bridge Creek below Deka Creek peaked highest at 17.3 m³/s in 2020 (25 years on record), Bridge Creek at Outlet of Horse Lake peaked highest at 15.4 m³/s in 1990 (20 years on record) and Windy Creek above Jim Creek peaked highest at 14.5 m³/s in 1999 (13 years on record). 1 set its record in the last 10 years. 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).

Normals for 1981-2010 at the Bridge Lake 2 station, about 12 km from Deka Lake (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 days with snow on the ground, so that is 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 (64%); 36% 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 970 kWh a year for each kW of panels at Deka Lake, about 37 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 Deka Lake, climate models project about 7 more days over 30 °C a year, a longest frost-free run about 40 days longer and about 6 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 8 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 4 to 19 across the models), against about 1 day in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 130 days (range 120 to 150), against about 90; and about 88% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 78% to 90%), 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 Deka Lake: 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 Deka Lake, a cloud-to-ground flash within 10 km on about 12 days a year and 0.25 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); 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).