Photo: Richard Coté · CC BY-SA 4.0Frontenac’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 7.3% of area homes over the radon guideline
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Frontenac’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). For earthquakes Frontenac is middling, $0.038 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Frontenac grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Frontenac’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Frontenac: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Frontenac faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Frontenac grades B for hazard risk
For Frontenac, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Frontenac: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Frontenac’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Frontenac each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Frontenac: 62% within 5 km and 59% 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
Little or nothing burns around Frontenac in a typical year; 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec share that, and 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Frontenac is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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 Frontenac
Flood studies whose area touches Frontenac, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Frontenac; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Frontenac 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 Frontenac’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.”
Expected shaking damage in Frontenac: $0.038 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 Frontenac’s ground: $0.038 against a typical $0.030, 1.3 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Frontenac, at $0.038, is below the median of $0.14.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Frontenac sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 45% expect more shaking damage.
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 Frontenac’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 Frontenac: 7.3% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Estrie health region: radon tests
At 7.3% over the guideline, the area around Frontenac is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Frontenac is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 7.3%, beside a median of 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Frontenac, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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 share describes the area, not a house: in Frontenac as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Frontenac
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Frontenac; 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 Frontenac, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Frontenac’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontenac | Low | $0.038 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Lac-Mégantic 5,947 · 4.7 km | Low | $0.037 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Nantes 1,412 · 9.0 km | Low | $0.040 | 7.3% | None listed |
Frontenac’s low band tops its neighbours; Lac-Mégantic is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Frontenac faces
Practical steps for Frontenac’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.
- 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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Frontenac’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Frontenac takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Frontenac’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Frontenac.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Frontenac
Is radon a problem in Frontenac?
The area’s survey found 7.3% of 55 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Frontenac.
How is Frontenac’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Frontenac B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Frontenac at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Frontenac’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Frontenac flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Frontenac, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Frontenac?
About $0.038 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Frontenac.
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).