Photo: D. Gordon E. Robertson · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Cantley: 1 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Fire has left almost no mark near Cantley: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.080 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Cantley a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Cantley’s hazards
For Cantley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cantley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cantley grades C− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Cantley’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #410 of 507 in Quebec and #2,393 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 63 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.
Wildfire is rare near Cantley: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Cantley’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps Cantley in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Fire has stayed at least 5.3 km from Cantley’s homes since 1986.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Cantley: 18% within 5 km and 15% 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 513
Cantley sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 513 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 Cantley 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.
Gouvernement du Québec has mapped flooding for Cantley (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cantley: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Gouvernement du Québec studied flooding in an area that includes Cantley (1978); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farmers-Hull | Gouvernement du Québec | 1978 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Cantley has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Cantley to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
Shaking is Cantley’s costliest hazard: $0.080 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 2.7 times the typical $0.030: Cantley’s $0.080 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Cantley, at $0.080, is below the median of $0.14.
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 Cantley.
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).
For Cantley the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
13% of homes tested around Cantley are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A higher share than most: 13% of tested homes around Cantley, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Outaouais health region, Cantley included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Cantley, 13% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 4.8% over 600, against a median of 8.2% in Quebec.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Cantley, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Cantley can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Cantley
Alerts for Cantley come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Cantley are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Cantley
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cantley | Low | $0.080 | 13% | Yes |
| Chelsea 8,998 · 5.2 km | Low | $0.081 | 13% | Yes |
| Les Rapides 15,090 · 6.9 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
| Hautes-Plaines 6,353 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
| La Cité 30,930 · 9.1 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
| Des Vallées 3,575 · 10 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | None listed |
| Rivière-Gatineau 14,875 · 10 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
Nowhere around Cantley burns more: Chelsea, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cantley faces
Practical steps for Cantley’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Cantley without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Cantley’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’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 Cantley until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Cantley, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cantley
Does Cantley flood?
A flood study covers Cantley on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cantley?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Cantley $0.080 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Cantley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Cantley C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Cantley?
The area’s survey found 13% of 63 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Cantley.
Is Cantley at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Cantley’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
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).