Photo: Andrijko Z. · CC BY-SA 4.0On hazards, Kitigan Zibi comes out behind 85% of Canadian towns
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Kitigan Zibi’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.099 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Kitigan Zibi grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Kitigan Zibi’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Kitigan Zibi: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Kitigan Zibi faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Kitigan Zibi: D
Two inputs always count for Kitigan Zibi, 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. Only 63 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Kitigan Zibi: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Kitigan Zibi’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Kitigan Zibi’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Kitigan Zibi’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 5.7 km off.
There is forest near Kitigan Zibi’s homes (34% within 5 km) and more of it further out (40% 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
Little or nothing burns around Kitigan Zibi in a typical year; 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec share that, and 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.
Kitigan Zibi shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
Gouvernement du Québec has mapped flooding for Kitigan Zibi (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Kitigan Zibi: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Kitigan Zibi, Gouvernement du Québec’s from 1978, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farmers-Hull | Gouvernement du Québec | 1978 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Kitigan Zibi is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Kitigan Zibi’s homes are at risk.
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 Kitigan Zibi $0.099 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Kitigan Zibi loses $0.099, 3.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Kitigan Zibi expects less, $0.099, and La Pocatière the most, $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: 26% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Kitigan Zibi.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Kitigan Zibi’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
13% of homes tested around Kitigan Zibi are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Outaouais health region
More homes than usual test high around Kitigan Zibi: 13% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Kitigan Zibi than in most towns in Quebec: 13% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 4.8% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Kitigan Zibi, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 Kitigan Zibi; 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 Kitigan Zibi
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Kitigan Zibi; 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. |
For fires near Kitigan Zibi, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Kitigan Zibi’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Among its neighbours Kitigan Zibi has the most fire on record (low); Maniwaki follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Kitigan Zibi faces
What to do about the hazards Kitigan Zibi 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Kitigan Zibi’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Kitigan Zibi sits in.
- 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 Kitigan Zibi’s.
- 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 Kitigan Zibi floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kitigan Zibi
Does Kitigan Zibi flood?
Kitigan Zibi’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in Kitigan Zibi?
Around Kitigan Zibi, 63 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Kitigan Zibi’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Kitigan Zibi’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kitigan Zibi?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Kitigan Zibi’s buildings lose $0.099 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Kitigan Zibi at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Kitigan Zibi since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).