Photo: Belug · CC BY-SA 4.0Kuujjuaq’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 13% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire is rare near Kuujjuaq: 0.5% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.01% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Kuujjuaq grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Kuujjuaq’s hazards
For Kuujjuaq, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Kuujjuaq faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Kuujjuaq grades A− for hazard risk
For Kuujjuaq, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #14 of 507 in Quebec and #692 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 8 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.
Wildfire is rare near Kuujjuaq: 0.5% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Kuujjuaq’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Kuujjuaq at 0.01% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Kuujjuaq’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 6.1 km out.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Kuujjuaq: 57% within 5 km and 60% 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: Kuujjuaq ranks 18th of 513 at 0.01% 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.
Some fire is mapped around Kuujjuaq, 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.
No flood study is listed for Kuujjuaq
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Kuujjuaq: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Kuujjuaq, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Kuujjuaq has no flood study on file; only 45% of towns in Quebec do, against 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Kuujjuaq floods.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Kuujjuaq just $0.004 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.004 per $1,000, Kuujjuaq carries 0.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Kuujjuaq, at $0.004, is below the median of $0.14.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Kuujjuaq has 98% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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 Kuujjuaq 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).
Test for radon in Kuujjuaq: 13% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Nunavik health region: radon tests
A higher share than most: 13% of tested homes around Kuujjuaq, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Kuujjuaq (13%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Kuujjuaq sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% above.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Kuujjuaq, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Kuujjuaq
Alerts for Kuujjuaq 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Kuujjuaq to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Kuujjuaq faces
Practical steps for Kuujjuaq’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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Kuujjuaq’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Kuujjuaq, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Kuujjuaq.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Kuujjuaq takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Kuujjuaq
Is Kuujjuaq at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Kuujjuaq’s band is low, with 0.5% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2023), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Kuujjuaq flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Kuujjuaq (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Kuujjuaq?
13% of the 8 homes Health Canada tested around Kuujjuaq topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Kuujjuaq?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Kuujjuaq $0.004 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Kuujjuaq’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Kuujjuaq A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).