Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Labelle is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
Fire seldom reaches Labelle: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.071 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is higher than usual: 10% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Labelle grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Labelle’s hazards
For Labelle, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Labelle faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Labelle grades C for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Labelle’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #161 of 507 in Quebec and #2,110 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 78 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Labelle: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Labelle’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.001% of the land a year around Labelle, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Labelle: 36% within 5 km and 35% 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
Labelle burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 513 towns in Quebec; the leader, Mistissini, reaches 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Labelle burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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 Labelle, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Labelle, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Labelle the inventory points to Gouvernement du Québec’s 2005 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conception | Gouvernement du Québec | 2005 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Labelle among them, below the 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Labelle to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
Shaking is Labelle’s costliest hazard: $0.071 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.
Labelle’s $0.071 is about 2.4 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
Below the middle in Quebec: Labelle’s $0.071 against a median of $0.14; La Pocatière has $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.
28% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Labelle, which places it in the upper third.
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 Labelle 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).
10% of homes tested around Labelle are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Laurentides health region: radon tests
Labelle’s survey area reads 10% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Labelle’s area, at 10%, is above the median in Quebec (8.2%), and 1.3% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Labelle among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Labelle, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Labelle
Alerts for Labelle 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Labelle are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Labelle’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labelle | Low | $0.071 | 10% | Yes |
| La Conception 1,685 · 13 km | Low | $0.070 | 10% | Yes |
| La Minerve 1,492 · 16 km | Low | $0.072 | 10% | None listed |
| La Macaza 1,138 · 17 km | Low | $0.084 | 10% | None listed |
| Mont-Tremblant 11,879 · 19 km | Low | $0.065 | 10% | Yes |
La Conception (low) has the heaviest fire record of Labelle’s neighbours, and Labelle (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Labelle faces
Practical steps for Labelle’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.
- 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Labelle, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Labelle’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Labelle 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 Labelle floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Labelle
Is Labelle at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Labelle’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2022), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Labelle?
10% of the 78 homes Health Canada tested around Labelle topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Labelle?
About $0.071 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Labelle.
How is Labelle’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Labelle’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Labelle flood?
Labelle’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).