Photo: Veillg1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Carignan: 3 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Little of the land around Carignan has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.002% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.18 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Carignan’s survey area, 8.2% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Carignan grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Carignan’s hazards
For Carignan, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Carignan faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Carignan grades C− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Carignan’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #342 of 507 in Quebec and #2,308 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Carignan: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.2% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Carignan’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.002% of the land a year around Carignan, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Only 0.7% of the land within 25 km of Carignan is forest fuel, and 0.4% close in.
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
The land around Carignan burns at 0.002% a year, the 35th highest rate of 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops it 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Carignan 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.
Carignan is on the flood map inventory: 3 studies, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Carignan, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
3 studies on the inventory touch Carignan, the newest Gouvernement du Québec’s from 2005, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carignan | Gouvernement du Québec | 2005 | final |
| Brome-Missisquoi-Haut-Richelieu-Vallée-du-Richelieu-Rouville | Gouvernement du Québec | 2004 | final |
| Sorel-Chambly | Gouvernement du Québec | 1979 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Carignan has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2000s brought the most flood studies for Carignan (2 of 3), the first dating from the 1970s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Carignan.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Carignan.
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.
High seismic risk in Carignan: $0.18 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.
At $0.18 per $1,000, Carignan carries roughly 6.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Carignan’s $0.18 tops the median in Quebec, $0.14, though 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.
Carignan sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 13% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Carignan 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 about average around Carignan: 8.2% over the 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 Monteregie health region
The survey area of Carignan reads 8.2%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Carignan, 8.2% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in Quebec (8.2%).
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 Carignan’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.
Whatever Carignan’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Carignan
Alerts for Carignan 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. |
Evacuation orders for Carignan come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Carignan’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carignan | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Chambly 31,870 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.19 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Bienville 7,888 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Mathias-sur-Richelieu 4,598 · 6.5 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Richelieu 6,048 · 6.8 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Laurendeau 27,321 · 8.1 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Iberville 17,988 · 8.4 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
Nowhere around Carignan burns more: Chambly, 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 Carignan faces
What to do about the hazards Carignan 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Carignan.
- 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 Carignan sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Carignan’s included.
- 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 Carignan floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Carignan
Does Carignan flood?
Carignan’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Carignan?
Expected earthquake damage in Carignan comes to $0.18 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Carignan’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Carignan’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Carignan at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Carignan has burned since 1986, the last in 2024, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Carignan?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Carignan’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).