Photo: Mario Hains · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Dudswell: 1 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Wildfire isn’t Dudswell’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.001% a year). Earthquake risk in Dudswell is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.044 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Dudswell’s survey area, 7.3% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Dudswell a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Dudswell’s hazards
For Dudswell, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Dudswell faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Dudswell grades B for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Dudswell, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 55 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Dudswell: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Dudswell’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Dudswell burns at 0.001% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Dudswell’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 9.7 km away.
About as much forest grows next to Dudswell’s homes (44% within 5 km) as across 25 km (48%).
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 514
In the upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Dudswell ranks 136th of 514, 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Dudswell 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.
Dudswell is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Dudswell, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Dudswell, Gouvernement du Québec’s from 2005, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dudswell | Gouvernement du Québec | 2005 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Dudswell is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Dudswell’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Dudswell: $0.044 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.
Nothing unusual about Dudswell’s ground: $0.044 against a typical $0.030, 1.5 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.044, Dudswell is below the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière is highest 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: 32% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Dudswell.
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 Dudswell 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).
7.3% of homes tested around Dudswell are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Dudswell’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 7.3% over the guideline, against 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Dudswell alone, so this card uses the figure for the Estrie health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Dudswell, 7.3% 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 Dudswell’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.
Neighbouring homes in Dudswell can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Dudswell
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Dudswell; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Dudswell come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Dudswell’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dudswell | Low | $0.044 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Weedon 2,845 · 13 km | Low | $0.041 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Bury 1,243 · 15 km | Low | $0.040 | 7.3% | Yes |
| East Angus 4,261 · 15 km | Low | $0.045 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Westbury 1,207 · 15 km | Low | $0.051 | 7.3% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Dudswell (low); Weedon comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Dudswell faces
What to do about the hazards Dudswell 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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Dudswell is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Dudswell.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Dudswell’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Dudswell, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Dudswell
How is Dudswell’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Dudswell grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Dudswell at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Dudswell since 1986 (last in 2015); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Dudswell?
Expected earthquake damage in Dudswell comes to $0.044 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Dudswell?
Around Dudswell, 55 survey homes were tested and 7.3% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Dudswell flood?
There is flood mapping for Dudswell on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).