Photo: Johny-le-cowboy · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Dolbeau-Mistassini: 2 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Burn scars are few around Dolbeau-Mistassini, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.004% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.13 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 2.8% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Dolbeau-Mistassini grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Dolbeau-Mistassini’s hazards
For Dolbeau-Mistassini, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Dolbeau-Mistassini faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Dolbeau-Mistassini: B
The grade weighs Dolbeau-Mistassini’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: #77 of 507 in Quebec and #1,482 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 72 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Dolbeau-Mistassini: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Dolbeau-Mistassini’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Dolbeau-Mistassini burns at 0.004% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Forest thickens with distance from Dolbeau-Mistassini: 45% of the land within 5 km, 53% 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
In the top quarter in Quebec: Dolbeau-Mistassini ranks 29th of 513 at 0.004% a year, with Mistissini first 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, Dolbeau-Mistassini 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.
2 flood studies cover Dolbeau-Mistassini, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Dolbeau-Mistassini: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Dolbeau-Mistassini the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Gouvernement du Québec’s in 2005.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dolbeau-Mistassini | Gouvernement du Québec | 2005 | final |
| Dolbeau-Misatssini | Gouvernement du Québec | 2004 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Dolbeau-Mistassini among them, below the 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Dolbeau-Mistassini.
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.
High seismic risk in Dolbeau-Mistassini: $0.13 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.13 per $1,000, Dolbeau-Mistassini carries roughly 4.5 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Dolbeau-Mistassini, at $0.13, is right beside it, and La Pocatière tops the list at $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.
22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Dolbeau-Mistassini, which places it in the upper third.
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 Dolbeau-Mistassini 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).
Little radon around Dolbeau-Mistassini: 2.8% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Dolbeau-Mistassini’s area has fewer, 2.8%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Dolbeau-Mistassini (2.8%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), yet 1.4% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Dolbeau-Mistassini, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
Whatever Dolbeau-Mistassini’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean health region
Where to get warnings in Dolbeau-Mistassini
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Dolbeau-Mistassini; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Dolbeau-Mistassini come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Dolbeau-Mistassini’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dolbeau-Mistassini | Low | $0.13 | 2.8% | Yes |
| Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc 1,111 · 10 km | Low | $0.16 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Albanel 2,191 · 14 km | Low | $0.12 | 2.8% | None listed |
Dolbeau-Mistassini’s low band tops its neighbours; Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Dolbeau-Mistassini faces
What to do about the hazards Dolbeau-Mistassini 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Dolbeau-Mistassini.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Dolbeau-Mistassini takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Dolbeau-Mistassini.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Dolbeau-Mistassini’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Dolbeau-Mistassini
How is Dolbeau-Mistassini’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Dolbeau-Mistassini’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Dolbeau-Mistassini at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.2% of the land within 25 km of Dolbeau-Mistassini has burned since 1986, the last in 2023, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Dolbeau-Mistassini?
In Health Canada’s survey, 2.8% of 72 homes tested in Dolbeau-Mistassini’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Dolbeau-Mistassini flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Dolbeau-Mistassini; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Dolbeau-Mistassini?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Dolbeau-Mistassini $0.13 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).