Photo: Anne Dieu-Le-Veut · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire moderate, radon 4.7%: how Pointe-aux-Outardes stands on hazards
Some 3.9% of the land within 25 km of Pointe-aux-Outardes has burned since 1986; at 0.10% a year that is moderate, not high. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.10 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Pointe-aux-Outardes a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Pointe-aux-Outardes’s hazards
For Pointe-aux-Outardes, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Pointe-aux-Outardes faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Pointe-aux-Outardes grades B− for hazard risk
For Pointe-aux-Outardes, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Fire reaches the land around Pointe-aux-Outardes: 0.2% within 5 km, 3.9% within 25 km
Past fire around Pointe-aux-Outardes’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.10% of the land a year, Pointe-aux-Outardes’ burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel covers 52% of the land close to Pointe-aux-Outardes and 81% 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 514
The land around Pointe-aux-Outardes burns at 0.10% a year, the 3rd highest rate of 514 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops it 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Pointe-aux-Outardes, and 2.1% sit 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Pointe-aux-Outardes
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Pointe-aux-Outardes: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Pointe-aux-Outardes, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Pointe-aux-Outardes 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 is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Pointe-aux-Outardes’ homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Pointe-aux-Outardes $0.10 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 3.4 times the typical $0.030: Pointe-aux-Outardes’ $0.10 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: Pointe-aux-Outardes’ $0.10 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.
Pointe-aux-Outardes sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 25% are 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).
For Pointe-aux-Outardes 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).
Radon about average around Pointe-aux-Outardes: 4.7% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
The survey area of Pointe-aux-Outardes reads 4.7%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), the area around Pointe-aux-Outardes has fewer high tests: 4.7%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Pointe-aux-Outardes shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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.
A low area share in Pointe-aux-Outardes doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Cote-Nord health region
Where to get warnings in Pointe-aux-Outardes
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Pointe-aux-Outardes; 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 Pointe-aux-Outardes 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 Pointe-aux-Outardes
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pointe-aux-Outardes | Moderate | $0.10 | 4.7% | None listed |
| Chute-aux-Outardes 1,406 · 2.8 km | Moderate | $0.078 | 4.7% | None listed |
| Ragueneau 1,287 · 8.1 km | High | $0.094 | 4.7% | None listed |
| Pointe-Lebel 1,800 · 8.4 km | Low | $0.11 | 4.7% | None listed |
| Baie-Comeau 20,660 · 17 km | Low | $0.079 | 4.7% | None listed |
Fire is heaviest around Ragueneau (high), against moderate for Pointe-aux-Outardes.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Pointe-aux-Outardes faces
Practical steps for Pointe-aux-Outardes’ hazards, most pressing first.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- 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.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Pointe-aux-Outardes until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Pointe-aux-Outardes without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Pointe-aux-Outardes’ 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 Pointe-aux-Outardes.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pointe-aux-Outardes
Does Pointe-aux-Outardes flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Pointe-aux-Outardes, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Pointe-aux-Outardes’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Pointe-aux-Outardes’ Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Pointe-aux-Outardes at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Pointe-aux-Outardes’ moderate band (3.9% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pointe-aux-Outardes?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Pointe-aux-Outardes $0.10 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Pointe-aux-Outardes?
The area’s survey found 4.7% of 107 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Pointe-aux-Outardes.
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).