Photo: Roncanada · CC BY 4.0Hazards in Côte-Saint-Luc: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 6.8% of tested homes
Wildfire barely registers for Côte-Saint-Luc, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.23 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Côte-Saint-Luc grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Côte-Saint-Luc’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Côte-Saint-Luc: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Côte-Saint-Luc faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Côte-Saint-Luc: C
For Côte-Saint-Luc, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #247 of 507 in Quebec and #2,198 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 74 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Côte-Saint-Luc has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Côte-Saint-Luc’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.001% of the land a year around Côte-Saint-Luc, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Côte-Saint-Luc’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 7.3 km away.
Only 0.5% of the land within 25 km of Côte-Saint-Luc is forest fuel, and 0.1% 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
In the upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Côte-Saint-Luc ranks 136th of 513, at 0.001% 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Côte-Saint-Luc among them, though its rate is above zero; 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 Côte-Saint-Luc
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Côte-Saint-Luc: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Côte-Saint-Luc on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Côte-Saint-Luc has no flood study on file; only 45% of towns in Quebec do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Côte-Saint-Luc.
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 Côte-Saint-Luc: $0.23 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Côte-Saint-Luc’s $0.23 is about 7.7 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.23, Côte-Saint-Luc is above the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière has the most 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Côte-Saint-Luc: 6.3% of them.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Côte-Saint-Luc’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
6.8% of homes tested around Côte-Saint-Luc are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Côte-Saint-Luc’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 6.8% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Côte-Saint-Luc’s area, at 6.8%, 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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Côte-Saint-Luc, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are higher.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Côte-Saint-Luc only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Montreal health region
Weather and fire alerts for Côte-Saint-Luc
Alerts for Côte-Saint-Luc 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Côte-Saint-Luc to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Côte-Saint-Luc
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Côte-Saint-Luc | Low | $0.23 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Loyola 26,607 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Hampstead 7,464 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.22 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Montréal-Ouest 5,197 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.19 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Snowdon 22,511 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Côte-Saint-Antoine 20,415 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Upper Lachine 21,130 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Loyola (low), still no more than Côte-Saint-Luc (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Côte-Saint-Luc faces
Practical steps for Côte-Saint-Luc’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- 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 Côte-Saint-Luc.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Côte-Saint-Luc’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Côte-Saint-Luc’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Côte-Saint-Luc takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Côte-Saint-Luc
Is Côte-Saint-Luc at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Côte-Saint-Luc’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Côte-Saint-Luc?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Côte-Saint-Luc’s buildings lose $0.23 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Côte-Saint-Luc’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Côte-Saint-Luc C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Côte-Saint-Luc flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Côte-Saint-Luc (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Côte-Saint-Luc?
6.8% of the 74 homes Health Canada tested around Côte-Saint-Luc topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).