Photo: Mario Hains · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Bury: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
For Bury, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.001% a year. Earthquake risk in Bury is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.040 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Bury’s survey area, 7.3% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Bury a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Bury’s hazards
For Bury, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Bury faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Bury: B
The grade weighs Bury’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: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 55 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Bury: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Bury’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.001% of the land near Bury burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Bury’s homes came within 8.0 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest crowds in on Bury: 58% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 49% within 25 km.
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 Quebec · highest of 514
Bury sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 514 towns, at 0.001% a year, well behind Mistissini (0.31%).
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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Bury burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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.
A flood study covers Bury, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Bury, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Bury is Gouvernement du Québec’s, dated 2005; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dudswell | Gouvernement du Québec | 2005 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Bury is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
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 Bury’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Expected shaking damage in Bury: $0.040 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Bury’s ground: $0.040 against a typical $0.030, 1.3 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Bury expects less, $0.040, and La Pocatière the most, $0.48.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Bury (43%).
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Bury.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Bury: 7.3% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Bury’s area, at 7.3%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town. Bury doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Estrie health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Bury, 7.3% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Bury’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Bury, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Bury
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Bury; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Bury, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Bury
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bury | Low | $0.040 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Westbury 1,207 · 14 km | Low | $0.051 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Dudswell 1,850 · 15 km | Low | $0.044 | 7.3% | Yes |
| East Angus 4,261 · 16 km | Low | $0.045 | 7.3% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Bury (low), with Westbury next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Bury faces
What to do about the hazards Bury 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Bury is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Bury’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Bury.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Bury.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Bury
Is radon a problem in Bury?
Around Bury, 55 survey homes were tested and 7.3% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Bury’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Bury B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Bury at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Bury since 1986 (last in 2009); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Bury?
Expected earthquake damage in Bury comes to $0.040 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Bury flood?
There is flood mapping for Bury on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).