Photo: Mario Hains · CC BY-SA 3.0Hatley is on Canada’s flood inventory: 3 listed, led by Ville de Sherbrooke
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Hatley, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Hatley is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.046 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Radon is about average around Hatley: 7.3% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hatley grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Hatley’s hazards
For Hatley, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Hatley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hatley grades B for hazard risk
The grade weighs Hatley’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #71 of 507 in Quebec and #1,466 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 55 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Hatley: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Hatley’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Hatley burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Hatley’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 5.4 km away.
Forest fuel covers 28% of the land close to Hatley and 35% across 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
Of the 513 towns in Quebec, 144 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Hatley among them; Mistissini leads at 0.31% a year.
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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Hatley is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
Hatley is on the flood map inventory: 3 studies, latest by Ville de Sherbrooke
Flood studies whose area touches Hatley, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Ville de Sherbrooke and others have studied flooding in areas that include Hatley: 3 studies, the latest from 2010.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sherbrooke Zones inondables | Ville de Sherbrooke | 2010 | final |
| Sherbrooke-Lennoxville | Gouvernement du Québec | 2004 | final |
| Waterville | Gouvernement du Québec | 2004 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Hatley is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Mapping around Hatley began in the 2000s; the 2000s saw the most work (2 of 3 studies), the latest in the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Hatley.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Hatley’s homes are at risk.
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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Expected shaking damage in Hatley: $0.046 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.
Hatley’s $0.046 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.5 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.046, Hatley is below the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière is highest at $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.
Hatley sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 31% are higher.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Hatley is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
7.3% of homes tested around Hatley are over the radon 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 Estrie health region
Near the middle for radon: Hatley’s area 7.3%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Hatley’s area has 7.3%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Hatley is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have 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.
A low area share in Hatley doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Hatley
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Hatley; 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 Hatley 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 Hatley
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hatley | Low | $0.046 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Waterville 2,643 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.039 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Sherbrooke 184,135 · 8.2 km | Low | $0.043 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Compton 3,351 · 11 km | Low | $0.039 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley 2,938 · 12 km | Low | $0.038 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Ascot Corner 3,725 · 17 km | Low | $0.044 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Stoke 3,272 · 19 km | Low | $0.039 | 7.3% | Yes |
Ascot Corner burns a little more than Hatley, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Hatley faces
What to do about the hazards Hatley 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Hatley.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Hatley’s included.
- 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 Hatley.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Hatley takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Hatley
How big is the earthquake risk in Hatley?
About $0.046 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Hatley.
Is radon a problem in Hatley?
In Health Canada’s survey, 7.3% of 55 homes tested in Hatley’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Hatley flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Hatley; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Hatley at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Hatley has burned since 1986, the last in 2016, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Hatley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Hatley B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).