Photo: Jeff dumais · CC BY 3.0Albanel’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 2.8% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire is rare near Albanel: 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.004% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.12 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Albanel grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Albanel’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Albanel: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Albanel faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Albanel: B
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Albanel 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 radon share rests on 72 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.
Little of the land around Albanel has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Albanel’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Albanel burns at 0.004% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Albanel’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 8.4 km off.
Forest thickens with distance from Albanel: 35% of the land within 5 km, 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 514
In the top quarter in Quebec: Albanel ranks 29th of 514 at 0.004% 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.
Albanel is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 Albanel
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Albanel: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Albanel has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Albanel 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Albanel’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Albanel $0.12 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Albanel loses $0.12, 3.9 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Albanel, at $0.12, is right beside it, and La Pocatière tops the list at $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.
Albanel sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 24% are higher.
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 Albanel’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).
2.8% of homes tested around Albanel are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A lower share than most: 2.8% of tested homes around Albanel, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Albanel (2.8%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), yet 1.4% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Albanel 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Albanel only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean health region
Weather and fire alerts for Albanel
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Albanel; 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 Albanel, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Albanel’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanel | Low | $0.12 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Normandin 3,065 · 9.1 km | Low | $0.10 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Dolbeau-Mistassini 13,581 · 14 km | Low | $0.13 | 2.8% | Yes |
| Girardville 1,044 · 17 km | Low | $0.061 | 2.8% | None listed |
The fire record around Girardville is a touch heavier than Albanel’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 Albanel faces
What to do about the hazards Albanel 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Albanel’s.
- 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 Albanel until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Albanel without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Albanel’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Albanel
Is radon a problem in Albanel?
Around Albanel, 72 survey homes were tested and 2.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Albanel’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Albanel’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Albanel?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Albanel’s buildings lose $0.12 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Albanel flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Albanel’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Albanel at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Albanel since 1986 (last in 2023); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).