Photo: Jean-Philippe Boulet · CC BY 3.0Hazards in Austin: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 7.3% of tested homes
Wildfire is rare near Austin: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Austin is middling, $0.042 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Austin grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Austin’s hazards
For Austin, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Austin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Austin: B
Two inputs always count for Austin, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 55 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.
Little of the land around Austin has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Austin’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Austin each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Austin: 26% within 5 km and 31% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Austin, as for 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops the list 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Austin sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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 Austin
Flood studies whose area touches Austin, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Austin on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Austin has none.
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 Austin.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Austin: $0.042 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.
With $0.042 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Austin is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.4 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.042, Austin is below the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière is highest 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.
Austin sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 43% expect more shaking damage.
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 Austin 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).
7.3% of homes tested around Austin are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Estrie health region
Austin’s area, at 7.3%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Austin is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 7.3%, beside a median of 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Austin is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Austin, 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 Austin
Alerts for Austin 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 Austin 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)
How Austin’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin | Low | $0.042 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Eastman 2,706 · 5.4 km | Low | $0.040 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Magog 30,764 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.047 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Bolton-Est 1,337 · 9.1 km | Low | $0.036 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Orford 5,698 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.042 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Stukely-Sud 1,242 · 13 km | Low | $0.053 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Stanstead 1,171 · 18 km | Low | $0.039 | 7.3% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Austin (low), with Eastman next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Austin faces
What to do about the hazards Austin 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Austin, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Austin floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Austin sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Austin’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Austin
How big is the earthquake risk in Austin?
Expected earthquake damage in Austin comes to $0.042 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Austin flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Austin’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Austin?
Around Austin, 55 survey homes were tested and 7.3% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Austin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Austin’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Austin at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Austin since 1986 (last in 2016); 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).