Photo: Pierre Bona · CC BY-SA 3.0Wildfire low, radon 8.2%: how Frelighsburg stands on hazards
Wildfire is rare near Frelighsburg: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Frelighsburg sits near the middle: $0.059 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Frelighsburg grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Frelighsburg’s hazards
For Frelighsburg, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Frelighsburg faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Frelighsburg: C+
The grade weighs Frelighsburg’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: 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 Frelighsburg: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Frelighsburg’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Frelighsburg in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Frelighsburg: 11% within 5 km, 11% 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
Near-zero burning puts Frelighsburg with 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec, far below Mistissini 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Frelighsburg is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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 Frelighsburg
Flood studies whose area touches Frelighsburg, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Frelighsburg, 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 Frelighsburg 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 is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Frelighsburg’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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Frelighsburg: $0.059 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.
At $0.059 per $1,000, Frelighsburg’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 2 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Frelighsburg’s $0.059 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.
30% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Frelighsburg, 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 Frelighsburg.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Frelighsburg: 8.2% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Frelighsburg’s area, at 8.2%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Frelighsburg’s area, at 8.2%, is close to the median in Quebec (8.2%).
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 Frelighsburg 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.
Neighbouring homes in Frelighsburg 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). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Monteregie health region)
Where to get warnings in Frelighsburg
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Frelighsburg; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Frelighsburg, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Frelighsburg
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frelighsburg | Low | $0.059 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Dunham 3,632 · 12 km | Low | $0.072 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Sutton 4,775 · 15 km | Low | $0.045 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Bedford 2,845 · 17 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Cowansville 17,269 · 18 km | Low | $0.089 | 8.2% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Dunham (low), still no more than Frelighsburg (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Frelighsburg faces
What to do about the hazards Frelighsburg 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, Frelighsburg’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Frelighsburg 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 Frelighsburg.
- 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 Frelighsburg.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Frelighsburg
Is radon a problem in Frelighsburg?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Frelighsburg’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Frelighsburg at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Frelighsburg has burned since 1986, the last in 2021, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Frelighsburg flood?
Nothing is listed for Frelighsburg on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Frelighsburg’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Frelighsburg’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Frelighsburg?
About $0.059 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Frelighsburg.
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).