Photo: P199 · Public domainA quiet place for hazards: low wildfire, little earthquake risk, and 1.9% of tested homes over the radon guideline in Papineau-Cameron’s area
Fire has left almost no mark near Papineau-Cameron: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.073 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Papineau-Cameron grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Papineau-Cameron’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Papineau-Cameron: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Papineau-Cameron faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Papineau-Cameron grades B+ for hazard risk
The grade weighs Papineau-Cameron’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Papineau-Cameron: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Papineau-Cameron’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Papineau-Cameron burns at 0.001% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Papineau-Cameron’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 6.3 km away.
About as much forest grows next to Papineau-Cameron’s homes (46% within 5 km) as across 25 km (42%).
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 Ontario · highest of 872
At 0.001% a year, Papineau-Cameron is near the top in Ontario: 83rd of 872, behind Sioux Lookout (0.16%).
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.
Some fire is mapped around Papineau-Cameron, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Papineau-Cameron
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Papineau-Cameron: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Papineau-Cameron has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario, 69% of towns against 58% nationally, but none in the inventory touches Papineau-Cameron.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Papineau-Cameron’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
High seismic risk in Papineau-Cameron: $0.073 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.073 per $1,000, Papineau-Cameron carries roughly 2.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Papineau-Cameron, at $0.073, sits above the median of $0.043.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More earthquake risk than most: only 28% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Papineau-Cameron.
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).
The model counts damage to Papineau-Cameron’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 Papineau-Cameron: 1.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A lower share than most: 1.9% of tested homes around Papineau-Cameron, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Papineau-Cameron (1.9%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Papineau-Cameron is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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 survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Papineau-Cameron can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Papineau-Cameron
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Papineau-Cameron; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
For fires near Papineau-Cameron, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Papineau-Cameron’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Papineau-Cameron | Low | $0.073 | 1.9% | None listed |
| Mattawa 2,193 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.077 | 1.9% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Papineau-Cameron (low); Mattawa comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Papineau-Cameron faces
What to do about the hazards Papineau-Cameron faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
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 Papineau-Cameron without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Papineau-Cameron’s.
- 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 Papineau-Cameron until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Papineau-Cameron’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Papineau-Cameron
Is Papineau-Cameron at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Papineau-Cameron has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Papineau-Cameron’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Papineau-Cameron B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Papineau-Cameron?
In Health Canada’s survey, 1.9% of 103 homes tested in Papineau-Cameron’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Papineau-Cameron flood?
Nothing is listed for Papineau-Cameron on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Papineau-Cameron?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Papineau-Cameron $0.073 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).