Photo: Jeangagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0Duvernay faces more hazards than 93% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Duvernay, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.21 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 12% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Duvernay grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Duvernay’s hazards
For Duvernay, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Duvernay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Duvernay grades D for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Duvernay with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #485 of 507 in Quebec and #2,507 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Duvernay: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Duvernay’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Duvernay’s 0.001% is in the low band.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Duvernay’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 7.4 km away.
Around Duvernay the forest is thin or far off: 0.4% of the land within 5 km and 3.4% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Duvernay burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 513 towns in Quebec; the leader, Mistissini, reaches 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Duvernay stays low, with 92%.
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 Duvernay
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Duvernay: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Duvernay, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Duvernay 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Duvernay.
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 Duvernay $0.21 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.21 per $1,000, Duvernay carries roughly 6.9 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Laval, Duvernay included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Duvernay’s $0.21 tops the median in Quebec, $0.14, though La Pocatière reaches $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.
Duvernay is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 7.9% rank higher.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Duvernay.
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 Duvernay: 12% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Laval health region
More homes than usual test high around Duvernay: 12% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Duvernay than in most towns in Quebec: 12% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 0.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Duvernay 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.
Neighbouring homes in Duvernay 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 Duvernay
Alerts for Duvernay 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 Duvernay 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)
Hazards in the places around Duvernay
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duvernay | Low | $0.21 | 12% | None listed |
| Saint-Vincent-de-Paul 15,194 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.21 | 12% | None listed |
| Vimont 31,166 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.21 | 12% | None listed |
| Centre-Nord (Montréal-Nord) 13,131 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Centre (Montréal-Nord) 20,584 · 4.5 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Est (Montréal-Nord) 31,383 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Ouest (Montréal-Nord) 23,373 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
Duvernay’s low band tops its neighbours; Saint-Vincent-de-Paul is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Duvernay faces
What to do about the hazards Duvernay 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Duvernay’s included.
- 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 Duvernay.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Duvernay.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Duvernay is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Duvernay
Does Duvernay flood?
Nothing is listed for Duvernay on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Duvernay?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Duvernay $0.21 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Duvernay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Duvernay D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Duvernay?
In Health Canada’s survey, 12% of 107 homes tested in Duvernay’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Duvernay at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Duvernay has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).