Photo: Adqproductions · CC BY-SA 3.0Hébertville is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
Fire seldom reaches Hébertville: since 1986, 0.3% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.007% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.20 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 2.8% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Hébertville a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Hébertville’s hazards
For Hébertville, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Hébertville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Hébertville: B−
For Hébertville, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #96 of 507 in Quebec and #1,719 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 72 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 Hébertville: 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Hébertville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Hébertville at 0.007% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Hébertville’s homes came within 10 km, never inside 5 km.
There is forest near Hébertville’s homes (37% within 5 km) and more of it further out (66% 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 0.007% a year, Hébertville is near the top in Quebec: 23rd of 513, 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.
Hébertville 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.
A flood study covers Hébertville, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Hébertville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2000 study by Gouvernement du Québec covers Hébertville, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hébertville | Gouvernement du Québec | 2000 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Hébertville apart in Quebec, where 45% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
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 Hébertville’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
High seismic risk in Hébertville: $0.20 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 6.5 times the typical $0.030: Hébertville’s $0.20 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Hébertville, at $0.20, 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 12% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Hébertville.
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).
For Hébertville the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Hébertville: 2.8% 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 Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean health region
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Hébertville’s area, at 2.8%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Hébertville (2.8%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), yet 1.4% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Hébertville with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Hébertville’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Hébertville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Hébertville; 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 Hébertville come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Hébertville’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hébertville | Low | $0.20 | 2.8% | Yes |
| Hébertville-Station 1,298 · 6.5 km | Low | $0.27 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Bruno 2,935 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.24 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Gédéon 2,349 · 13 km | Low | $0.22 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Métabetchouan--Lac-à-la-Croix 4,230 · 13 km | Low | $0.18 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Larouche 1,734 · 13 km | Low | $0.20 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Alma 30,659 · 19 km | Low | $0.22 | 2.8% | None listed |
Larouche burns a little more than Hébertville, 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 Hébertville faces
Practical steps for Hébertville’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Hébertville’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’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 Hébertville.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Hébertville is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Hébertville, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Hébertville
Is radon a problem in Hébertville?
The area’s survey found 2.8% of 72 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Hébertville.
How is Hébertville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hébertville grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Hébertville?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Hébertville’s buildings lose $0.20 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Hébertville at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Hébertville’s low band (0.3% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2022) is short of the level that counts.
Does Hébertville flood?
There is flood mapping for Hébertville on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).