Photo: Harfang · CC BY-SA 3.0Donnacona’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.8% of area homes over the radon guideline
For Donnacona, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.11 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Donnacona a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Donnacona’s hazards
For Donnacona, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Donnacona faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Donnacona: C
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Donnacona with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #248 of 507 in Quebec and #2,200 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Donnacona: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Donnacona’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.001% of the land a year, Donnacona’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 15 km from Donnacona’s homes since 1986.
Forest thickens with distance from Donnacona: 16% of the land within 5 km, 33% 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
Donnacona sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 513 towns, at 0.001% a year, well behind Mistissini (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.
Some fire is mapped around Donnacona, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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 Donnacona
Flood studies whose area touches Donnacona, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Donnacona on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Donnacona; in Quebec, 45% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
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 Donnacona’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 Donnacona: $0.11 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.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Donnacona loses $0.11, 3.7 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Donnacona, at $0.11, is right beside it, and La Pocatière tops the list 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 24% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Donnacona.
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).
For Donnacona the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Donnacona: 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.
The survey area of Donnacona reads 8.8%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Donnacona’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 Donnacona 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.
Whatever Donnacona’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). · Radon tests published for the Capitale-Nationale health region, not by town
Where to get warnings in Donnacona
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Donnacona; 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 Donnacona, 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 Donnacona
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donnacona | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Cap-Santé 3,885 · 5.2 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Sainte-Croix 2,612 · 6.6 km | Low | $0.13 | 13% | None listed |
| Pont-Rouge 11,339 · 8.9 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Neuville 4,579 · 11 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Basile 2,918 · 12 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly 1,747 · 13 km | Low | $0.14 | 13% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Cap-Santé (low), still no more than Donnacona (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Donnacona faces
What to do about the hazards Donnacona 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Donnacona 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 Donnacona.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Donnacona, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Donnacona’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Donnacona
How is Donnacona’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Donnacona’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Donnacona flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Donnacona’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Donnacona?
Expected earthquake damage in Donnacona comes to $0.11 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Donnacona at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Donnacona since 1986 (last in 2003); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Donnacona?
Around Donnacona, 160 survey homes were tested and 8.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).