Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Coaticook: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Coaticook, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Coaticook as in most places, at $0.042 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Coaticook is ordinary for Canada: 7.3% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Coaticook grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Coaticook’s hazards
For Coaticook, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Coaticook faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Coaticook grades B for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Coaticook with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #63 of 507 in Quebec and #1,442 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 55 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Coaticook has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Coaticook’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Coaticook in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Coaticook’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 9.7 km away.
Within 5 km of Coaticook, 31% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 38%.
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
Of the 513 towns in Quebec, 144 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Coaticook among them; Mistissini leads at 0.31% a year.
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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Coaticook is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Coaticook is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Coaticook, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Coaticook the inventory points to Gouvernement du Québec’s 2012 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coaticook | Gouvernement du Québec | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Coaticook has one.
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 Coaticook.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Coaticook: $0.042 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.
1.4 times the typical $0.030: Coaticook’s $0.042 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Coaticook’s $0.042 sits under the median in Quebec, $0.14, and well under La Pocatière’s $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.
Coaticook 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 Coaticook 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 Coaticook: 7.3% 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 Estrie health region
7.3% of tested homes around Coaticook were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Coaticook’s area, at 7.3%, is close to the median in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Coaticook 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.
A low area share in Coaticook doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Coaticook
Alerts for Coaticook 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 Coaticook 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)
Hazards in the places around Coaticook
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coaticook | Low | $0.042 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Compton 3,351 · 14 km | Low | $0.039 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Ayer's Cliff 1,284 · 19 km | Low | $0.042 | 7.3% | Yes |
Compton (low) has the heaviest fire record of Coaticook’s neighbours, and Coaticook (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Coaticook faces
What to do about the hazards Coaticook 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
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 Coaticook.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Coaticook’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Coaticook takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Coaticook.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Coaticook
How is Coaticook’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Coaticook grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Coaticook?
Expected earthquake damage in Coaticook comes to $0.042 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Coaticook flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Coaticook; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Coaticook?
In Health Canada’s survey, 7.3% of 55 homes tested in Coaticook’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Coaticook at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Coaticook 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).