Photo: Cantons-de-l'Est · CC BY-SA 4.0A quiet place for hazards: low wildfire, little earthquake risk, and 0% of tested homes over the radon guideline in Durham-Sud’s area
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Durham-Sud: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.067 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Durham-Sud a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Durham-Sud’s hazards
For Durham-Sud, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Durham-Sud faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Durham-Sud grades A− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Durham-Sud’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 58 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.
Wildfire is rare near Durham-Sud: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Durham-Sud’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Durham-Sud’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 11 km from Durham-Sud’s homes, none within 5 km.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Durham-Sud: 23% within 5 km, 20% 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 514
Mistissini has the highest burn rate in Quebec, 0.31% a year; around Durham-Sud, as around 145 of the 514 towns, it rounds to zero.
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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Durham-Sud, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Durham-Sud
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Durham-Sud: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Durham-Sud, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Durham-Sud has none.
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 Durham-Sud’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 Durham-Sud: $0.067 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; Durham-Sud loses $0.067, 2.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Durham-Sud’s $0.067 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.
29% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Durham-Sud, which places it in the upper third.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Durham-Sud.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
0% of homes tested around Durham-Sud are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Mauricie et Centre-du-Quebec health region: radon tests
Durham-Sud’s area, at 0%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Quebec is 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; around Durham-Sud it is 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Durham-Sud; 63% sit 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.
Whatever Durham-Sud’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).
Where to get warnings in Durham-Sud
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Durham-Sud; 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 Durham-Sud, 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)
How Durham-Sud’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durham-Sud | Low | $0.067 | 0% | None listed |
| Melbourne 1,128 · 12 km | Low | $0.043 | 7.3% | Yes |
| L'Avenir 1,456 · 13 km | Low | $0.061 | 0% | None listed |
| Richmond 3,419 · 14 km | Low | $0.056 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Cleveland 1,624 · 16 km | Low | $0.041 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Saint-Félix-de-Kingsey 1,550 · 17 km | Low | $0.071 | 0% | None listed |
| Valcourt 1,081 · 17 km | Low | $0.054 | 7.3% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Durham-Sud has the most fire on record (low); Melbourne follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Durham-Sud faces
What to do about the hazards Durham-Sud 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Durham-Sud’s included.
- 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 Durham-Sud.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Durham-Sud floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Durham-Sud sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Durham-Sud
How is Durham-Sud’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Durham-Sud A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Durham-Sud?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Durham-Sud $0.067 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Durham-Sud?
Around Durham-Sud, 58 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Durham-Sud at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Durham-Sud since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Durham-Sud flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Durham-Sud’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).