Photo: Élie Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0Fermont faces more hazards than 95% of Canadian towns
Fire is a regular visitor: 12% of the land within 25 km of Fermont has burned since 1986 (0.29% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Fermont is ordinary for Canada: 4.7% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Fermont a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Fermont’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Fermont: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Fermont faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Fermont: D−
Two inputs always count for Fermont, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Fire country: 12% of the land within 25 km of Fermont has burned since 1986, 15% within 5 km
Past fire around Fermont’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Fermont is 0.29%, against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town: the high band.
Forest crowds in on Fermont: 68% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 55% 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
At 0.29% a year, Fermont is near the top in Quebec: 2nd of 514, 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.
Just 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough for the high band where Fermont sits; 0.2% burn faster.
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 Fermont
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Fermont: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Fermont has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Fermont has none.
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 Fermont’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.”
Low seismic risk in Fermont: $0.005 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.2 times the typical $0.030: Fermont’s $0.005 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Fermont’s $0.005 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.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Fermont has 96% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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).
The loss is to Fermont’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
4.7% of homes tested around Fermont are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
4.7% of tested homes around Fermont were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), the area around Fermont has fewer high tests: 4.7%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Fermont, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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.
One home in Fermont can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Cote-Nord health region
Weather and fire alerts for Fermont
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Fermont; 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 Fermont come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Fermont
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fermont | High | $0.005 | 4.7% | None listed |
| Wabush 2,105 · 19 km | High | $0.004 | 3% | None listed |
The fire record around Wabush is a touch heavier than Fermont’s, but the band is the same: high (here high).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fermont faces
What to do about the hazards Fermont faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Fermont’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Fermont until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Fermont without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Fermont’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fermont
How is Fermont’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fermont grades D− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Fermont at risk of wildfire?
More than most Canadian towns; Fermont’s high band rests on 12% of nearby land burned since 1986 (most recently 2024).
How big is the earthquake risk in Fermont?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Fermont $0.005 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Fermont?
Around Fermont, 107 survey homes were tested and 4.7% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Fermont flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Fermont’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).