Photo: Red Castle · CC BY-SA 4.0On hazards, Saint-Quentin comes out behind 93% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near Saint-Quentin: 0.4% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.01% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.060 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 29% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Saint-Quentin grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Quentin’s hazards
For Saint-Quentin, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Quentin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Saint-Quentin: D
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Saint-Quentin with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Saint-Quentin has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.4% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saint-Quentin’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.01% burned a year, Saint-Quentin is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Nothing inside 5 km of Saint-Quentin’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 15 km off.
Forest fuel covers 49% of the land close to Saint-Quentin and 68% across 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 New Brunswick · highest of 61
In the upper half in New Brunswick but far from Tracadie (0.28%): Saint-Quentin ranks 22nd of 61, at 0.01% 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, Saint-Quentin 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 Saint-Quentin
Flood studies whose area touches Saint-Quentin, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Saint-Quentin on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in New Brunswick reaches 93% of towns, beside 58% across Canada, but not Saint-Quentin.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Saint-Quentin’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Saint-Quentin’s costliest hazard: $0.060 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.
At $0.060 per $1,000, Saint-Quentin carries roughly 2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in New Brunswick: Saint-Quentin’s $0.060 against a median of $0.036, with St. Stephen highest at $0.16.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More earthquake risk than most: only 29% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Saint-Quentin.
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 Saint-Quentin 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).
29% of homes tested around Saint-Quentin are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A higher share than most: 29% of tested homes around Saint-Quentin, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Saint-Quentin, 29% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 4.7% over 600, against a median of 20% in New Brunswick.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Saint-Quentin, and 1.5% sit above it.
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 Saint-Quentin 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). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Region 4 health region)
Where to get warnings in Saint-Quentin
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Quentin; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Saint-Quentin, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Quentin
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Quentin | Low | $0.060 | 29% | None listed |
| Saint-Quentin 2,294 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.076 | 29% | None listed |
| Kedgwick 2,051 · 14 km | Low | $0.055 | 29% | None listed |
The fire record around Kedgwick is a touch heavier than Saint-Quentin’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 Saint-Quentin faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Quentin 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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Saint-Quentin without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Saint-Quentin’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Saint-Quentin, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Saint-Quentin until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Quentin
Is radon a problem in Saint-Quentin?
In Health Canada’s survey, 29% of 86 homes tested in Saint-Quentin’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Quentin?
About $0.060 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Saint-Quentin.
Does Saint-Quentin flood?
Nothing is listed for Saint-Quentin on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Saint-Quentin at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.4% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Quentin has burned since 1986, the last in 2013, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Saint-Quentin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Saint-Quentin D, 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).