Photo: Veillg1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 13%: how Puvirnituq stands on hazards
For Puvirnituq, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.011 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Puvirnituq grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Puvirnituq’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Puvirnituq: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Puvirnituq faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Puvirnituq grades B for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Puvirnituq, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 8 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Puvirnituq: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Puvirnituq’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Puvirnituq’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Around Puvirnituq the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0% 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 514
Among the 514 towns in Quebec, Mistissini burns fastest (0.31% a year); Puvirnituq is with the 145 near 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Puvirnituq, burning rounds to zero.
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 Puvirnituq
Flood studies whose area touches Puvirnituq, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Puvirnituq, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Puvirnituq has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Puvirnituq to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Puvirnituq: $0.011 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.
Puvirnituq’s $0.011 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.4 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: Puvirnituq’s $0.011 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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (85%) face more earthquake damage than Puvirnituq.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Puvirnituq’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
13% of homes tested around Puvirnituq are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Nunavik health region
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Puvirnituq’s area, at 13%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Quebec is 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Puvirnituq has 13%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Puvirnituq among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Puvirnituq only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Puvirnituq
Alerts for Puvirnituq 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 Puvirnituq 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)
Get ready for what Puvirnituq faces
What to do about the hazards Puvirnituq 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
- 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 Puvirnituq’s.
- 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 Puvirnituq until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Puvirnituq’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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Puvirnituq without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Puvirnituq
How big is the earthquake risk in Puvirnituq?
Expected earthquake damage in Puvirnituq comes to $0.011 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Puvirnituq flood?
Nothing is listed for Puvirnituq on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Puvirnituq?
In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of 8 homes tested in Puvirnituq’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Puvirnituq at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Puvirnituq since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Puvirnituq’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Puvirnituq’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).