Photo: Réjean Tremblay · CC BY 4.0On hazards, Eeyou Istchee Baie-James comes out behind 97% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is a real hazard for Eeyou Istchee Baie-James: 17% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.42% a year, in the high band. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.010 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is about average around Eeyou Istchee Baie-James: 5.8% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Eeyou Istchee Baie-James a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Eeyou Istchee Baie-James: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Eeyou Istchee Baie-James faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Eeyou Istchee Baie-James: D−
Two inputs always count for Eeyou Istchee Baie-James, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
A high wildfire band for Eeyou Istchee Baie-James: 2.2% within 5 km, 17% within 25 km
Past fire around Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Eeyou Istchee Baie-James is 0.42%, against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town: the high band.
Within 5 km of Eeyou Istchee Baie-James, 65% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 77%.
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
Eeyou Istchee Baie-James has the highest burn rate of the 514 towns in Quebec, 0.42% a year; next is 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.
Eeyou Istchee Baie-James is one of the few of Canada’s 2,610 towns in the high band (1.9%); 0.2% rank very high.
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 Eeyou Istchee Baie-James
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Eeyou Istchee Baie-James: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Eeyou Istchee Baie-James, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Eeyou Istchee Baie-James is not among them.
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 Eeyou Istchee Baie-James.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Eeyou Istchee Baie-James: $0.010 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’ $0.010 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.3 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’ $0.010 against a median of $0.14; La Pocatière has $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.
86% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Eeyou Istchee Baie-James.
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).
The loss is to Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’ buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
5.8% of homes tested around Eeyou Istchee Baie-James are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Nord-du-Quebec health region: radon tests
Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’ area, at 5.8%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’ 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Eeyou Istchee Baie-James with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
The survey sampled homes around Eeyou Istchee Baie-James; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Eeyou Istchee Baie-James
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Eeyou Istchee Baie-James; 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 Eeyou Istchee Baie-James come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Eeyou Istchee Baie-James faces
What to do about the hazards Eeyou Istchee Baie-James faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’.
- 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 Eeyou Istchee Baie-James until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’ homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Eeyou Istchee Baie-James without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Eeyou Istchee Baie-James
Is Eeyou Istchee Baie-James at risk of wildfire?
Yes, by Canadian standards: Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’ band is high, with 17% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2023), so wildfire counts against its Risk grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Eeyou Istchee Baie-James?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’ buildings lose $0.010 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Eeyou Istchee Baie-James grades D− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Eeyou Istchee Baie-James?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5.8% of 224 homes tested in Eeyou Istchee Baie-James’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Eeyou Istchee Baie-James flood?
Nothing is listed for Eeyou Istchee Baie-James on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).