Photo: Fralambert · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Hérouxville: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 0% of tested homes
Little of the land around Hérouxville has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.004% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.12 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Hérouxville a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Hérouxville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Hérouxville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Hérouxville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Hérouxville: B+
Earthquake risk and radon make Hérouxville’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 58 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.
Little of the land around Hérouxville has burned: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Hérouxville’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Hérouxville is 0.004%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest crowds in on Hérouxville: 46% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 39% 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
Hérouxville ranks 29th of the 514 towns in Quebec for burn rate, at 0.004% a year; Mistissini leads with 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.
Some fire is mapped around Hérouxville, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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 Hérouxville
Flood studies whose area touches Hérouxville, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Hérouxville on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Hérouxville has no flood study on file; only 45% of towns in Quebec do, against 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Hérouxville’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.”
Shaking is Hérouxville’s costliest hazard: $0.12 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.
Roughly 4 times the typical $0.030: Hérouxville’s $0.12 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Hérouxville, at $0.12, is right beside it, and La Pocatière tops the list 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.
Hérouxville sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 23% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Hérouxville’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Hérouxville: 0% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Mauricie et Centre-du-Quebec health region
Hérouxville’s area, at 0%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Hérouxville (0%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Hérouxville’s band, which holds 37%.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Hérouxville only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Hérouxville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Hérouxville; 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. |
For fires near Hérouxville, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Hérouxville
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hérouxville | Low | $0.12 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Tite 3,759 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.095 | 0% | Yes |
| Shawinigan 51,739 · 12 km | Low | $0.090 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Narcisse 1,848 · 16 km | Low | $0.11 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Stanislas 1,040 · 19 km | Low | $0.13 | 0% | Yes |
Shawinigan burns a little more than Hérouxville, 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 Hérouxville faces
Practical steps for Hérouxville’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
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Hérouxville sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Hérouxville floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Hérouxville’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Hérouxville’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Hérouxville
Does Hérouxville flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Hérouxville, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Hérouxville?
Expected earthquake damage in Hérouxville comes to $0.12 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Hérouxville?
The area’s survey found 0% of 58 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Hérouxville.
How is Hérouxville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Hérouxville B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Hérouxville at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Hérouxville’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
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).