Photo: Gilbertus · CC BY 3.0Boischatel is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Boischatel, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.13 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 8.8% of homes tested in Boischatel’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Boischatel grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Boischatel’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Boischatel: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Boischatel faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Boischatel: C
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Boischatel with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #274 of 507 in Quebec and #2,227 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Boischatel: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Boischatel’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Boischatel burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Boischatel’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 7.0 km away.
The nearer ring around Boischatel is less wooded (16% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (26%).
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
Near-zero burning puts Boischatel with 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec, far below Mistissini 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Boischatel, burning rounds to zero.
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.
A flood study covers Boischatel, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Boischatel, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Boischatel is Gouvernement du Québec’s, dated 1996; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trois-Saults | Gouvernement du Québec | 1996 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Boischatel is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Boischatel.
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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Shaking is Boischatel’s costliest hazard: $0.13 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 $0.13 per $1,000, Boischatel carries roughly 4.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Quebec: Boischatel’s $0.13 sits by the median of $0.14, while La Pocatière reaches $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.
23% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Boischatel, which places it in the upper third.
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 model counts damage to Boischatel’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Boischatel: 8.8% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Capitale-Nationale health region: radon tests
Boischatel’s area, at 8.8%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Boischatel, 8.8% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 2.5% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Boischatel’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Boischatel as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Boischatel
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Boischatel; 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. |
For fires near Boischatel, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Boischatel
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boischatel | Low | $0.13 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Chutes-Montmorency 16,273 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Sainte-Thérèse-de-Lisieux 17,558 · 4.5 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Michel 17,303 · 4.8 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| L'Ange-Gardien 4,106 · 5.0 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Vieux-Bourg 14,774 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Sainte-Pétronille 1,015 · 6.5 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | None listed |
Nowhere around Boischatel burns more: Chutes-Montmorency, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Boischatel faces
What to do about the hazards Boischatel 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- 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 Boischatel’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Boischatel without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Boischatel’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Boischatel until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Boischatel
How big is the earthquake risk in Boischatel?
Expected earthquake damage in Boischatel comes to $0.13 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Boischatel’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Boischatel’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Boischatel flood?
A flood study covers Boischatel on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Boischatel?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.8% of 160 homes tested in Boischatel’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Boischatel at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Boischatel has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).