Photo: Nicolas Lefrançois · Public domainHazards in Château-Richer: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.8% of tested homes
Fire seldom reaches Château-Richer: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.000% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.10 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Château-Richer a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Château-Richer’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Château-Richer: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Château-Richer faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Château-Richer: C
Two inputs always count for Château-Richer, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #158 of 507 in Quebec and #2,107 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Château-Richer: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Château-Richer’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Château-Richer at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest thickens with distance from Château-Richer: 33% of the land within 5 km, 41% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Château-Richer, as for 144 of the 513 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Château-Richer 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 Château-Richer
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Château-Richer: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Château-Richer, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Château-Richer is not among them.
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 Château-Richer’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.”
High seismic risk in Château-Richer: $0.10 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Château-Richer loses $0.10, 3.5 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Château-Richer, at $0.10, is below the median of $0.14.
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: 25% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Château-Richer.
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 Château-Richer’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).
Radon about average around Château-Richer: 8.8% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
8.8% of tested homes around Château-Richer were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Château-Richer’s area, at 8.8%, is close to the median in Quebec (8.2%); 2.5% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Château-Richer with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Château-Richer can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Capitale-Nationale health region)
Weather and fire alerts for Château-Richer
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Château-Richer; 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 Château-Richer, 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 Château-Richer
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Château-Richer | Low | $0.10 | 8.8% | None listed |
| L'Ange-Gardien 4,106 · 7.6 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Pierre-de-l'Île-d'Orléans 1,704 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré 3,173 · 10 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval 9,084 · 11 km | Low | $0.099 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Boischatel 9,250 · 12 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Beaupré 4,314 · 13 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Château-Richer (low), with L'Ange-Gardien next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Château-Richer faces
What to do about the hazards Château-Richer 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 Château-Richer’s.
- 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 Château-Richer.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Château-Richer’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. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Château-Richer takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Château-Richer
Does Château-Richer flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Château-Richer’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Château-Richer?
Around Château-Richer, 160 survey homes were tested and 8.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Château-Richer?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Château-Richer $0.10 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Château-Richer’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Château-Richer grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Château-Richer at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Château-Richer since 1986 (last in 2022); 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).