Photo: Robert Garry · CC BY-SA 4.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Chibougamau: it beats 87% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Chibougamau, with 1.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.03% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Chibougamau’s survey area, 5.8% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Chibougamau grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Chibougamau’s hazards
For Chibougamau, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Chibougamau faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Chibougamau: A
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Chibougamau with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #4 of 507 in Quebec and #517 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.
Few fires near Chibougamau: 8.8% within 5 km, 1.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Chibougamau’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.03% of the land near Chibougamau burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
83% of the land within 5 km of Chibougamau is forest fuel, close to the 82% 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
The land around Chibougamau burns at 0.03% a year, the 12th highest rate of 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops it 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Chibougamau among them, though its rate is above zero; 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 Chibougamau
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Chibougamau: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Chibougamau, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Chibougamau has none.
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 Chibougamau 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Chibougamau just $0.013 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Chibougamau’s $0.013 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.4 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Chibougamau, at $0.013, 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 75% of its 2,611 towns sit above Chibougamau.
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 Chibougamau.
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 Chibougamau: 5.8% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
5.8% of tested homes around Chibougamau were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Chibougamau’s area, at 5.8%, is below the median 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 Chibougamau’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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Chibougamau’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Nord-du-Quebec health region
Where to get warnings in Chibougamau
Alerts for Chibougamau 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Chibougamau to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Chibougamau faces
What to do about the hazards Chibougamau 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Chibougamau, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Chibougamau 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 Chibougamau’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 Chibougamau until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Chibougamau
Is Chibougamau at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 1.1% of the land within 25 km of Chibougamau has burned since 1986, the last in 2023, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Chibougamau?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5.8% of 224 homes tested in Chibougamau’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Chibougamau?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Chibougamau’s buildings lose $0.013 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Chibougamau flood?
Nothing is listed for Chibougamau on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Chibougamau’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Chibougamau A, 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).