Photo: Visem · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Kirkland: 1 on record, latest by Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal
Wildfire isn’t Kirkland’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.001% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.20 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon around Kirkland is ordinary for Canada: 6.8% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Kirkland a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Kirkland’s hazards
For Kirkland, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Kirkland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Kirkland grades C for hazard risk
For Kirkland, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #160 of 507 in Quebec and #2,109 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 74 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Kirkland: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Kirkland’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Kirkland’s 0.001% is in the low band.
Kirkland’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 10 km away.
Forest fuel is scarce around Kirkland: 0.3% of the land within 5 km, 2.1% 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
At 0.001% a year, Kirkland ranks 136th of the 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini leads 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.
Some fire is mapped around Kirkland, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal has mapped flooding for Kirkland (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Kirkland, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Kirkland the inventory points to Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal’s 2008 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montréal-Argenteuil-Deux-Montagnes-Vaudreuil-Soulanges | Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal | 2008 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Kirkland apart in Quebec, where 45% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Kirkland.
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 Kirkland: $0.20 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.
Roughly 6.7 times the typical $0.030: Kirkland’s $0.20 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.20, Kirkland is above the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière has the most 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 11% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Kirkland.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Kirkland is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Kirkland: 6.8% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
6.8% of tested homes around Kirkland were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Kirkland shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Montreal health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Kirkland is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 6.8%, beside a median of 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Kirkland, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
Neighbouring homes in Kirkland can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Kirkland
Alerts for Kirkland 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Kirkland are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Kirkland
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirkland | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | Yes |
| Pierrefonds-Ouest 30,978 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | Yes |
| Beaconsfield 19,430 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.17 | 6.8% | Yes |
| Pointe-Claire 37,437 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.19 | 6.8% | Yes |
| L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève 18,885 · 4.8 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | Yes |
| Baie-D'Urfé 3,706 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.16 | 6.8% | Yes |
| Dollard-Des Ormeaux 50,246 · 5.9 km | Low | $0.23 | 6.8% | None listed |
Pierrefonds-Ouest (low) has the heaviest fire record of Kirkland’s neighbours, and Kirkland (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kirkland faces
Practical steps for Kirkland’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
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Kirkland sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Kirkland’s included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Kirkland floods.
- 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 Kirkland.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kirkland
How is Kirkland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Kirkland grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kirkland?
Expected earthquake damage in Kirkland comes to $0.20 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Kirkland?
The area’s survey found 6.8% of 74 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Kirkland.
Is Kirkland at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Kirkland’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Kirkland flood?
Kirkland’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).