Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Adstock’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 13% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire barely registers for Adstock, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Adstock as in most places, at $0.045 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Adstock grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Adstock’s hazards
For Adstock, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Adstock faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Adstock grades C for hazard risk
For Adstock, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #288 of 507 in Quebec and #2,247 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Adstock: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Adstock’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Adstock each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Adstock’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 6.8 km away.
Forest crowds in on Adstock: 63% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 53% 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
Of the 513 towns in Quebec, 144 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Adstock among them; Mistissini leads at 0.31% 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Adstock is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
No flood study is listed for Adstock
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Adstock: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Adstock, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Adstock has no flood study on file; only 45% of towns in Quebec do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Adstock’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Adstock $0.045 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Adstock, $0.045 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: Adstock’s $0.045 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 32% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Adstock.
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 Adstock 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 Adstock: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A higher share than most: 13% of tested homes around Adstock, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region, Adstock included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Adstock than in most towns in Quebec: 13% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 0.6% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Adstock among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Adstock, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Adstock
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Adstock; 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 Adstock 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 Adstock’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adstock | Low | $0.045 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Éphrem-de-Beauce 2,575 · 12 km | Low | $0.046 | 13% | Yes |
| La Guadeloupe 1,927 · 15 km | Low | $0.043 | 13% | None listed |
| Thetford Mines 27,155 · 17 km | Low | $0.049 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Victor 2,344 · 19 km | Low | $0.043 | 13% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Adstock has the most fire on record (low); Saint-Éphrem-de-Beauce follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Adstock faces
Practical steps for Adstock’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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Adstock.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Adstock takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Adstock’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Adstock, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Adstock
Does Adstock flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Adstock (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Adstock?
13% of the 175 homes Health Canada tested around Adstock topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Adstock at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Adstock’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2016), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Adstock?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Adstock $0.045 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Adstock’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Adstock grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).