Photo: Chicoutimi · CC BY 3.0Wildfire low, radon 6.8%: how Hampstead stands on hazards
Burn scars are few around Hampstead, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.22 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Hampstead a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Hampstead’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Hampstead: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Hampstead faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hampstead grades C for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Hampstead’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #244 of 507 in Quebec and #2,193 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 74 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Hampstead: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Hampstead’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Hampstead is 0.001%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 8.7 km from Hampstead’s homes since 1986.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Hampstead: forest fuel is 0.1% within 5 km and 0.5% 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
Hampstead sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 513 towns, at 0.001% a year, well 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.
Hampstead 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Hampstead
Flood studies whose area touches Hampstead, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Hampstead; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Hampstead; in Quebec, 45% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Hampstead floods.
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 Hampstead: $0.22 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.
Hampstead’s $0.22 is about 7.4 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
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Hampstead, at $0.22, sits above 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.
Only 7.3% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Hampstead.
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 Hampstead’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 Hampstead: 6.8% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Montreal health region
Hampstead’s area, at 6.8%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Hampstead’s area has 6.8%, much the same.
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: Hampstead, 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.
One home in Hampstead 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).
Weather and fire alerts for Hampstead
Alerts for Hampstead 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Hampstead to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Hampstead’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hampstead | Low | $0.22 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Snowdon 22,511 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Loyola 26,607 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Côte-Saint-Antoine 20,415 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Côte-Saint-Luc 37,901 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.23 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Savane 32,028 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Upper Lachine 21,130 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Snowdon (low), still no more than Hampstead (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Hampstead faces
Practical steps for Hampstead’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
- 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 Hampstead’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Hampstead without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Hampstead’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 Hampstead until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Hampstead
Is Hampstead at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Hampstead’s band is low, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Hampstead?
6.8% of the 74 homes Health Canada tested around Hampstead topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Hampstead?
About $0.22 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Hampstead.
How is Hampstead’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hampstead’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Hampstead flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Hampstead (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).