Photo: Laurent Bélanger · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Hemmingford: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.2% of tested homes
Fire has left almost no mark near Hemmingford: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.18 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Hemmingford a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Hemmingford’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Hemmingford: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Hemmingford faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Hemmingford: C−
The grade weighs Hemmingford’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: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Hemmingford has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Hemmingford’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Hemmingford burns at 0.001% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 7.3 km from Hemmingford’s homes, none within 5 km.
Forest crowds in on Hemmingford: 21% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 6.1% 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
Hemmingford sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 514 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Hemmingford among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Hemmingford
Flood studies whose area touches Hemmingford, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Hemmingford has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Hemmingford; 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Hemmingford.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Hemmingford $0.18 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Hemmingford loses $0.18, 6 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Hemmingford’s $0.18 tops the median in Quebec, $0.14, though La Pocatière reaches $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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 13% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Hemmingford.
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 Hemmingford’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 Hemmingford: 8.2% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Hemmingford’s area 8.2%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Hemmingford’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 Hemmingford 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Hemmingford can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Monteregie health region
Weather and fire alerts for Hemmingford
Alerts for Hemmingford 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. |
Evacuation orders for Hemmingford come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Hemmingford
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hemmingford | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Sainte-Clotilde 3,297 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle 1,655 · 11 km | Low | $0.17 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Chrysostome 2,641 · 11 km | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Patrice-de-Sherrington 1,996 · 13 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Édouard 1,438 · 18 km | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Cyprien-de-Napierville 1,786 · 18 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | None listed |
Sainte-Clotilde (low) has the heaviest fire record of Hemmingford’s neighbours, and Hemmingford (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Hemmingford faces
What to do about the hazards Hemmingford 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.
- 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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Hemmingford’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Hemmingford’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Hemmingford without grading them.
- 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 Hemmingford until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Hemmingford
Is radon a problem in Hemmingford?
Around Hemmingford, 110 survey homes were tested and 8.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Hemmingford at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Hemmingford since 1986 (last in 2015); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Hemmingford flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Hemmingford’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Hemmingford’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Hemmingford C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Hemmingford?
About $0.18 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Hemmingford.
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).