Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.8% of area homes over the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Fossambault-sur-le-Lac: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.10 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Fossambault-sur-le-Lac a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Fossambault-sur-le-Lac: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Fossambault-sur-le-Lac faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Fossambault-sur-le-Lac grades C for hazard risk
For Fossambault-sur-le-Lac, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #152 of 507 in Quebec and #2,099 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Fossambault-sur-le-Lac has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Fossambault-sur-le-Lac fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Nothing inside 5 km of Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 15 km off.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Fossambault-sur-le-Lac: 34% 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
At 0.001% a year, Fossambault-sur-le-Lac ranks 136th of the 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini leads at 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.
Fossambault-sur-le-Lac is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 Fossambault-sur-le-Lac
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Fossambault-sur-le-Lac: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Fossambault-sur-le-Lac, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Fossambault-sur-le-Lac is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Fossambault-sur-le-Lac to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Fossambault-sur-le-Lac $0.10 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s $0.10 is about 3.3 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
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Fossambault-sur-le-Lac expects less, $0.10, and La Pocatière the most, $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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Fossambault-sur-le-Lac, 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).
The loss is to Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’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).
Some radon around Fossambault-sur-le-Lac: 8.8% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Capitale-Nationale health region
Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.8% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ordinary for towns in Quebec at 8.8% over 200 Bq/m³ (8.2% is the median), the area around Fossambault-sur-le-Lac had 2.5% over 600.
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: Fossambault-sur-le-Lac, 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.
The survey sampled homes around Fossambault-sur-le-Lac; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Fossambault-sur-le-Lac
Alerts for Fossambault-sur-le-Lac 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Fossambault-sur-le-Lac are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Fossambault-sur-le-Lac
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fossambault-sur-le-Lac | Low | $0.10 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier 9,830 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Shannon 7,088 · 7.5 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Val-Bélair 30,003 · 15 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier 3,400 · 15 km | Low | $0.087 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Pont-Rouge 11,339 · 15 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Raymond 11,951 · 15 km | Low | $0.092 | 8.8% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Fossambault-sur-le-Lac has the most fire on record (low); Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Fossambault-sur-le-Lac faces
Practical steps for Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Fossambault-sur-le-Lac is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Fossambault-sur-le-Lac.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Fossambault-sur-le-Lac
Does Fossambault-sur-le-Lac flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Fossambault-sur-le-Lac (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Fossambault-sur-le-Lac?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Fossambault-sur-le-Lac $0.10 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Fossambault-sur-le-Lac at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Fossambault-sur-le-Lac’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2020), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Fossambault-sur-le-Lac?
8.8% of the 160 homes Health Canada tested around Fossambault-sur-le-Lac 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).