One of the biggest risks to Vancouver during an earthquake could be fires sparked by hundreds of transformers perched atop wooden power poles, according to a report from a research group set up by the Canadian insurance industry.

The report by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction says Vancouver's downtown core is uniquely vulnerable because of the large number of transformers mounted on wood poles.

Author Paul Kovacs said Vancouver is one of the only cities in North America that hasn't put all of its electrical transmission equipment underground.

"One of the things that has been done, I think in all of the cities in North America but not yet in Vancouver, is in the downtown core there are wooden transmission poles and all the other cities have taken those away and distribute electricity in different ways."

BC Hydro spokesman Julius Pataky said the Crown-owned company is already replacing wooden poles in the downtown core.

"We initiated the program about two years ago and have committed about $50 million to replace that," he said.

"There's a number of drivers, the first one is safety, the other is recognizing the seismic risk and the next one is so we can maintain reliability."

There are about 200 wooden poles left in the downtown core, and they should all be replaced within four years.

Lessons learned in Haiti and Chile

According to the report titled Reducing the risk of earthquake damage in Canada: Lessons from Haiti and Chile:

• There is at least a 30 per cent chance that an earthquake strong enough to cause significant damage will strike southwestern B.C. in the next 50 years.
• A unique vulnerability is found in central Vancouver. Wood pole mounted transformers abound in the central business district, in many cases only inches from commercial buildings.
• In past earthquakes, pole mounted transformers arced and exploded … [and] it is expected that many ignitions would result.
• The destruction of homes and buildings from fire has the potential to exceed the damage from severe shaking in large urban earthquakes.
• Firefighters may also experience extraordinary demands. Severe shaking may destroy the water supply needed to extinguish fires and debris may block roads, increasing the risk that fires build into conflagrations.
• The potential for extreme fire losses in Vancouver … is unknown, but it could involve thousands of homes."