Photo: Hayden Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Val-d'Or faces few natural hazards: little fire nearby, low seismic risk, radon over the guideline in 4.3% of tested homes
Fire seldom reaches Val-d'Or: since 1986, 0.5% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.01% a year). For earthquakes Val-d'Or is middling, $0.029 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Val-d'Or a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Val-d'Or’s hazards
For Val-d'Or, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Val-d'Or faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Val-d'Or grades A− for hazard risk
For Val-d'Or, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #15 of 507 in Quebec and #693 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 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.
Few fires near Val-d'Or: 0% within 5 km, 0.5% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Val-d'Or’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Val-d'Or’s 0.01% is in the low band.
There is forest near Val-d'Or’s homes (66% within 5 km) and more of it further out (74% 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 top quarter in Quebec: Val-d'Or ranks 18th of 513 at 0.01% a year, with Mistissini first 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Val-d'Or stays low, with 92%.
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 Val-d'Or
Flood studies whose area touches Val-d'Or, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Val-d'Or, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Val-d'Or.
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 Val-d'Or’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.”
Expected shaking damage in Val-d'Or: $0.029 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.
With $0.029 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Val-d'Or sits right at the typical $0.030.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Val-d'Or, at $0.029, is below the median of $0.14.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Middle of the pack: 51% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Val-d'Or.
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 Val-d'Or 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).
Radon runs low around Val-d'Or: 4.3% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Val-d'Or’s area has fewer, 4.3%. Val-d'Or doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Abitibi-Temiscamingue health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Val-d'Or (4.3%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Val-d'Or with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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 Val-d'Or 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 Val-d'Or
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Val-d'Or; 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 Val-d'Or come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Val-d'Or faces
Practical steps for Val-d'Or’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Val-d'Or.
- 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 Val-d'Or.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Val-d'Or 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, Val-d'Or’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Val-d'Or
Is radon a problem in Val-d'Or?
The area’s survey found 4.3% of 69 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Val-d'Or.
Is Val-d'Or at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Val-d'Or’s low band (0.5% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
Does Val-d'Or flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Val-d'Or, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How is Val-d'Or’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Val-d'Or’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Val-d'Or?
About $0.029 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Val-d'Or.
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).