Photo: P199 · Public domainA quiet place for hazards: low wildfire, little earthquake risk, and 4.3% of tested homes over the radon guideline in Rivière-Héva’s area
Fire seldom reaches Rivière-Héva: since 1986, 1.8% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.04% a year). NRCan expects $0.028 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Rivière-Héva, near the typical $0.030. Hazard risk gives Rivière-Héva a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Rivière-Héva’s hazards
For Rivière-Héva, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Rivière-Héva faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rivière-Héva grades A− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Rivière-Héva’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 69 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.
Wildfire is rare near Rivière-Héva: 1.8% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Rivière-Héva’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Rivière-Héva is 0.04%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Within 5 km of Rivière-Héva, 66% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 76%.
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
At 0.04% a year, Rivière-Héva is near the top in Quebec: 11th of 514, 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.
Rivière-Héva 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Rivière-Héva
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Rivière-Héva: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Rivière-Héva on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Rivière-Héva is not among 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 Rivière-Héva’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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Rivière-Héva: $0.028 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Rivière-Héva’s $0.028 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.9 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Rivière-Héva’s $0.028 sits under the median in Quebec, $0.14, and well under La Pocatière’s $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.
Rivière-Héva’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 51% of the 2,611 towns 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Rivière-Héva is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Rivière-Héva: 4.3% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Rivière-Héva: 4.3% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), the area around Rivière-Héva has fewer high tests: 4.3%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Rivière-Héva is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have 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.
A low area share in Rivière-Héva 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 Abitibi-Temiscamingue health region
Where to get warnings in Rivière-Héva
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Rivière-Héva; 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 Rivière-Héva come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Rivière-Héva’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rivière-Héva | Low | $0.028 | 4.3% | None listed |
| Malartic 3,506 · 6.9 km | Moderate | $0.029 | 4.3% | None listed |
Malartic has the most fire around it, a moderate band against Rivière-Héva’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rivière-Héva faces
What to do about the hazards Rivière-Héva 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Rivière-Héva floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Rivière-Héva’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 Rivière-Héva.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Rivière-Héva sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Rivière-Héva
Is Rivière-Héva at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 1.8% of the land around Rivière-Héva since 1986 (last in 2024); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Rivière-Héva?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Rivière-Héva $0.028 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Rivière-Héva’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Rivière-Héva A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Rivière-Héva flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Rivière-Héva’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Rivière-Héva?
Around Rivière-Héva, 69 survey homes were tested and 4.3% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).