Photo: Velatrix · CC0Waskaganish faces fewer hazards than almost every Canadian town
Wildfire is a moderate presence around Waskaganish: 2% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, 0.05% a year, short of the band that counts against Risk. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is lower than usual: 0% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Waskaganish grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Waskaganish’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Waskaganish: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Waskaganish faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Waskaganish grades A+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Waskaganish with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #2 of 507 in Quebec and #10 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 3 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.
Fire reaches the land around Waskaganish: 0.2% within 5 km, 2% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Waskaganish’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Waskaganish is 0.05%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
Forest crowds in on Waskaganish: 83% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 71% 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: Waskaganish ranks 10th of 513 at 0.05% 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.
Waskaganish is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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.
No flood study is listed for Waskaganish
Flood studies whose area touches Waskaganish, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Waskaganish, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Waskaganish; 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Waskaganish.
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.”
Low seismic risk in Waskaganish: $0.013 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Waskaganish’s $0.013 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: Waskaganish’s $0.013 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.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Waskaganish.
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).
The loss is to Waskaganish’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Waskaganish: 0% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Waskaganish’s survey area reads 0% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Waskaganish alone, so this card uses the figure for the Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Waskaganish (0%) 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.
Waskaganish 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 survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Waskaganish can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Waskaganish
Alerts for Waskaganish 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Waskaganish are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Waskaganish faces
What to do about the hazards Waskaganish faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Waskaganish’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Waskaganish’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Waskaganish takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Waskaganish.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Waskaganish
Does Waskaganish flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Waskaganish’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Waskaganish at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2% of the land around Waskaganish since 1986 (last in 2023); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Waskaganish?
Expected earthquake damage in Waskaganish comes to $0.013 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Waskaganish?
Around Waskaganish, 3 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Waskaganish’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Waskaganish A+, 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).