Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 10%: how Val-Morin stands on hazards
Wildfire is rare near Val-Morin: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.076 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Val-Morin a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Val-Morin’s hazards
For Val-Morin, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Val-Morin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Val-Morin grades C for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Val-Morin’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #241 of 507 in Quebec and #2,190 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 78 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Val-Morin: 0.2% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Val-Morin’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.001% of the land a year, Val-Morin’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The ring nearest Val-Morin is the most wooded: 49% forest fuel within 5 km against 35% 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%): Val-Morin 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Val-Morin reads low, with 92% of them; only 7.5% rank 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 Val-Morin
Flood studies whose area touches Val-Morin, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Val-Morin has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Val-Morin; in Quebec, 45% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
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-Morin’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.”
Shaking is Val-Morin’s costliest hazard: $0.076 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.
Roughly 2.5 times the typical $0.030: Val-Morin’s $0.076 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Val-Morin’s $0.076 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.
28% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Val-Morin, 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Val-Morin 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 high around Val-Morin: 10% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Val-Morin’s area, at 10%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Val-Morin’s area, at 10%, is above the median in Quebec (8.2%), and 1.3% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Val-Morin, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
Whatever Val-Morin’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Laurentides health region
Where to get warnings in Val-Morin
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Val-Morin; 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-Morin 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 Val-Morin’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Val-Morin | Low | $0.076 | 10% | None listed |
| Val-David 5,920 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.066 | 10% | Yes |
| Sainte-Adèle 15,216 · 6.7 km | Low | $0.072 | 10% | Yes |
| Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts 12,154 · 8.8 km | Low | $0.074 | 10% | Yes |
| Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides 1,651 · 11 km | Low | $0.073 | 10% | None listed |
| Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson 3,842 · 11 km | Low | $0.083 | 10% | None listed |
| Morin-Heights 5,086 · 12 km | Low | $0.069 | 10% | None listed |
The fire record around Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson is a touch heavier than Val-Morin’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Val-Morin faces
Practical steps for Val-Morin’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
- 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-Morin.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Val-Morin without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Val-Morin’s included.
- 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 Val-Morin until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Val-Morin
Is radon a problem in Val-Morin?
The area’s survey found 10% of 78 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Val-Morin.
How is Val-Morin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Val-Morin grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Val-Morin?
Expected earthquake damage in Val-Morin comes to $0.076 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Val-Morin at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Val-Morin’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Val-Morin flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Val-Morin, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).