Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0A quiet place for hazards: low wildfire, little earthquake risk, and 4.3% of tested homes over the radon guideline in Macamic’s area
Burn scars are few around Macamic, with 0% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.001% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Macamic as in most places, at $0.019 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Macamic a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Macamic’s hazards
For Macamic, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Macamic faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Macamic: A−
Two inputs always count for Macamic, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #5 of 507 in Quebec and #577 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 69 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.
Little of the land around Macamic has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Macamic’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Macamic burns at 0.001% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest fuel covers 32% of the land close to Macamic and 48% across 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
Macamic sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 513 towns, at 0.001% a year, well behind Mistissini (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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Macamic burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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 Macamic
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Macamic: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Macamic, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Macamic has none.
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 Macamic 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Macamic: $0.019 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.019 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Macamic is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.019, Macamic is below the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière is highest 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 66% of its 2,611 towns sit above Macamic.
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 Macamic.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Macamic: 4.3% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Abitibi-Temiscamingue health region
Macamic’s area, at 4.3%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Quebec is 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; around Macamic it is 4.3%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Macamic, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see more.
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.
Whatever Macamic’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Macamic
Alerts for Macamic 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 Macamic to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Macamic’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macamic | Low | $0.019 | 4.3% | None listed |
| La Sarre 7,199 · 16 km | Low | $0.019 | 4.3% | Yes |
| Palmarolle 1,425 · 18 km | Low | $0.021 | 4.3% | None listed |
The fire record around La Sarre is a touch heavier than Macamic’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 Macamic faces
What to do about the hazards Macamic 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Macamic is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Macamic’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 Macamic.
- 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 Macamic.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Macamic
Does Macamic flood?
Nothing is listed for Macamic on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Macamic at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Macamic has burned since 1986, the last in 2021, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Macamic?
In Health Canada’s survey, 4.3% of 69 homes tested in Macamic’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Macamic?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Macamic $0.019 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Macamic’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Macamic grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers 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).