Photo: Jeangagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Pointe-Claire: 1 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Pointe-Claire: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.001% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.19 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Pointe-Claire as elsewhere, 6.8% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Pointe-Claire grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Pointe-Claire’s hazards
For Pointe-Claire, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Pointe-Claire faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Pointe-Claire: C
Two inputs always count for Pointe-Claire, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #148 of 507 in Quebec and #2,095 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 74 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Pointe-Claire: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Pointe-Claire’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Pointe-Claire is 0.001%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Pointe-Claire’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 7.7 km off.
Forest fuel is scarce around Pointe-Claire: 0.1% of the land within 5 km, 1.5% 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 upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Pointe-Claire ranks 136th of 513, at 0.001% a year.
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.
Pointe-Claire is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
Pointe-Claire is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Pointe-Claire, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 1977 study by Gouvernement du Québec covers Pointe-Claire, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| St-Louis-Varennes | Gouvernement du Québec | 1977 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Pointe-Claire is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Pointe-Claire’s homes are at risk.
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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Shaking is Pointe-Claire’s costliest hazard: $0.19 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.19 per $1,000, Pointe-Claire carries roughly 6.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Pointe-Claire’s $0.19 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.
12% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Pointe-Claire, which places it in the upper third.
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-Claire 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).
6.8% of homes tested around Pointe-Claire are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
6.8% of tested homes around Pointe-Claire were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Montreal health region as a whole, not for Pointe-Claire alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Pointe-Claire’s area has 6.8%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Pointe-Claire’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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-Claire 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).
Where to get warnings in Pointe-Claire
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Pointe-Claire; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Pointe-Claire, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Pointe-Claire’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pointe-Claire | Low | $0.19 | 6.8% | Yes |
| Dollard-Des Ormeaux 50,246 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.23 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Kirkland 19,696 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | Yes |
| Dorval 21,062 · 4.9 km | Low | $0.19 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Beaconsfield 19,430 · 4.9 km | Low | $0.17 | 6.8% | Yes |
| Pierrefonds-Ouest 30,978 · 5.1 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | Yes |
| Pierrefonds-Est 38,928 · 5.6 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
Pointe-Claire’s low band tops its neighbours; Dollard-Des Ormeaux is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Pointe-Claire faces
What to do about the hazards Pointe-Claire 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Pointe-Claire.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Pointe-Claire’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Pointe-Claire, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Pointe-Claire takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pointe-Claire
Does Pointe-Claire flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Pointe-Claire; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Pointe-Claire at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Pointe-Claire has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Pointe-Claire?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.8% of 74 homes tested in Pointe-Claire’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pointe-Claire?
Expected earthquake damage in Pointe-Claire comes to $0.19 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Pointe-Claire’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Pointe-Claire C, 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).