Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0La Macaza’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 10% of area homes over the radon guideline
For La Macaza, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.084 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). La Macaza grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about La Macaza’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for La Macaza: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What La Macaza faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in La Macaza: C
Seismic risk and radon set La Macaza’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 78 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 La Macaza: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around La Macaza’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around La Macaza each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to La Macaza’s homes came within 7.2 km, never inside 5 km.
About as much forest grows next to La Macaza’s homes (41% within 5 km) as across 25 km (38%).
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
Mistissini has the highest burn rate in Quebec, 0.31% a year; around La Macaza, as around 145 of the 514 towns, it rounds to zero.
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.
La Macaza 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for La Macaza
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for La Macaza: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for La Macaza on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not La Macaza.
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 La Macaza.
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 La Macaza $0.084 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
La Macaza’s $0.084 is about 2.8 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: La Macaza’s $0.084 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 27% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than La Macaza.
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 model counts damage to La Macaza’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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 La Macaza: 10% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Laurentides health region
A higher share than most: 10% of tested homes around La Macaza, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around La Macaza than in most towns in Quebec: 10% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 1.3% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
La Macaza is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in La Macaza as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for La Macaza
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for La Macaza; 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 La Macaza come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around La Macaza
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Macaza | Low | $0.084 | 10% | None listed |
| Rivière-Rouge 4,882 · 12 km | Low | $0.076 | 10% | None listed |
| Labelle 2,861 · 17 km | Low | $0.071 | 10% | Yes |
The fire record around Labelle is a touch heavier than La Macaza’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what La Macaza faces
Practical steps for La Macaza’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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of La Macaza’s 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. 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 La Macaza floods.
- 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 La Macaza’s.
- 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 La Macaza sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in La Macaza
How is La Macaza’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
La Macaza’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does La Macaza flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers La Macaza (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is La Macaza at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: La Macaza’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2022), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in La Macaza?
10% of the 78 homes Health Canada tested around La Macaza topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in La Macaza?
In NRCan’s seismic model, La Macaza’s buildings lose $0.084 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).