Photo: Mario Hains · CC BY-SA 3.0Cap-Chat faces more hazards than 92% of Canadian towns
For Cap-Chat, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.063 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 25% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Cap-Chat grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Cap-Chat’s hazards
For Cap-Chat, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cap-Chat faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Cap-Chat: D
The grade weighs Cap-Chat’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #482 of 507 in Quebec and #2,496 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Cap-Chat has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Cap-Chat’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Cap-Chat is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest thickens with distance from Cap-Chat: 73% of the land within 5 km, 86% 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
Near-zero burning puts Cap-Chat with 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec, far below Mistissini at 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Cap-Chat, burning rounds to zero.
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 Cap-Chat
Flood studies whose area touches Cap-Chat, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Cap-Chat on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Cap-Chat.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Cap-Chat’s homes are at risk.
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 Cap-Chat: $0.063 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Cap-Chat loses $0.063, 2.1 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Cap-Chat, at $0.063, 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 29% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Cap-Chat.
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 Cap-Chat 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).
Test for radon in Cap-Chat: 25% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Cap-Chat’s area, at 25%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Cap-Chat than in most towns in Quebec: 25% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 3.4% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Cap-Chat, and 1.5% sit above it.
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 low area share in Cap-Chat doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Gaspesie - Iles-de-la-Madeleine health region)
Where to get warnings in Cap-Chat
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cap-Chat; 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 Cap-Chat, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Cap-Chat
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cap-Chat | Low | $0.063 | 25% | None listed |
| Sainte-Anne-des-Monts 6,099 · 17 km | Low | $0.056 | 25% | Yes |
Nowhere around Cap-Chat burns more: Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, 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 Cap-Chat faces
What to do about the hazards Cap-Chat 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Cap-Chat’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 Cap-Chat.
- 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 Cap-Chat until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Cap-Chat without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cap-Chat
Is Cap-Chat at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Cap-Chat’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Cap-Chat flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Cap-Chat’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Cap-Chat?
Around Cap-Chat, 174 survey homes were tested and 25% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cap-Chat?
About $0.063 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Cap-Chat.
How is Cap-Chat’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Cap-Chat D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).