Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Fort-Coulonge is higher than in 90% of Canadian towns
Fire seldom reaches Fort-Coulonge: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.002% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.13 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Fort-Coulonge a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Fort-Coulonge’s hazards
For Fort-Coulonge, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Fort-Coulonge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Fort-Coulonge: D
For Fort-Coulonge, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 63 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 Fort-Coulonge: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Fort-Coulonge’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.002% of the land around Fort-Coulonge each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Fort-Coulonge’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 6.5 km away.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Fort-Coulonge: 23% within 5 km, 19% 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 514
Fort-Coulonge ranks 35th of the 514 towns in Quebec for burn rate, at 0.002% a year; Mistissini leads with 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, Fort-Coulonge 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 Fort-Coulonge, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Fort-Coulonge: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 2 studies covering Fort-Coulonge is Gouvernement du Québec’s, from 2008; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mansfield-et-Pontefract | Gouvernement du Québec | 2008 | final |
| Chenal-du-Grand-Calumet-Rocher-Fendu | MRC de Pontiac | 2006 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Fort-Coulonge is one of them.
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 Fort-Coulonge 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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Fort-Coulonge $0.13 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 4.3 times the typical $0.030: Fort-Coulonge’s $0.13 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Fort-Coulonge runs at $0.13 a year, near the $0.14 of the typical town in Quebec; 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.
22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Fort-Coulonge, 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 Fort-Coulonge 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).
Radon runs high around Fort-Coulonge: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Outaouais health region: radon tests
Fort-Coulonge’s survey area reads 13% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fort-Coulonge’s area, at 13%, is above the median in Quebec (8.2%), and 4.8% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Fort-Coulonge, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go higher.
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 Fort-Coulonge’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).
Where to get warnings in Fort-Coulonge
Alerts for Fort-Coulonge 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. |
Evacuation orders for Fort-Coulonge come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Fort-Coulonge’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort-Coulonge | Low | $0.13 | 13% | Yes |
| Mansfield-et-Pontefract 2,332 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.087 | 13% | Yes |
| Whitewater Region 7,899 · 15 km | Low | $0.11 | 8% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Fort-Coulonge (low), with Mansfield-et-Pontefract next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fort-Coulonge faces
Practical steps for Fort-Coulonge’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.
- 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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Fort-Coulonge without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Fort-Coulonge, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Fort-Coulonge until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Fort-Coulonge’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fort-Coulonge
How is Fort-Coulonge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fort-Coulonge grades D for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Fort-Coulonge?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Fort-Coulonge’s buildings lose $0.13 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Fort-Coulonge?
The area’s survey found 13% of 63 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Fort-Coulonge.
Is Fort-Coulonge at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Fort-Coulonge’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Fort-Coulonge flood?
A flood study covers Fort-Coulonge on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).