Photo: Interaction Qui Ltée · Public domainLabrecque’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 2.8% of area homes over the radon guideline
Fire has left almost no mark near Labrecque: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.18 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Labrecque grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Labrecque’s hazards
For Labrecque, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Labrecque faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Labrecque grades B− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Labrecque’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. Only 72 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.
Little of the land around Labrecque has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Labrecque’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Labrecque is 0.001%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Labrecque’s homes came within 10 km, never inside 5 km.
There is forest near Labrecque’s homes (57% within 5 km) and more of it further out (64% 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
Labrecque burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 514 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 Labrecque 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Labrecque
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Labrecque: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Labrecque has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Labrecque.
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 Labrecque 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.”
High seismic risk in Labrecque: $0.18 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.18 per $1,000, Labrecque carries roughly 6 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Quebec: Labrecque’s $0.18 against a median of $0.14, with La Pocatière 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.
13% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Labrecque, 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 Labrecque 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 Labrecque: 2.8% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean health region
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Labrecque’s area has fewer, 2.8%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Labrecque (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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Labrecque; 63% sit higher.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Labrecque can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Labrecque
Alerts for Labrecque 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 Labrecque 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 Labrecque’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labrecque | Low | $0.18 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Nazaire 2,167 · 11 km | Low | $0.21 | 2.8% | None listed |
| L'Ascension-de-Notre-Seigneur 2,291 · 12 km | Low | $0.19 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Alma 30,659 · 17 km | Low | $0.22 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Ambroise 4,262 · 18 km | Low | $0.22 | 2.8% | None listed |
Saint-Ambroise burns a little more than Labrecque, 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 Labrecque faces
What to do about the hazards Labrecque 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. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Labrecque’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 Labrecque 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 Labrecque floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Labrecque, 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 Labrecque
How is Labrecque’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Labrecque B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Labrecque?
In Health Canada’s survey, 2.8% of 72 homes tested in Labrecque’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Labrecque at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Labrecque has burned since 1986, the last in 2023, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Labrecque flood?
Nothing is listed for Labrecque on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Labrecque?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Labrecque’s buildings lose $0.18 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).