Photo: Rapout · CC BY-SA 3.0Lac-au-Saumon’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 14% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire isn’t Lac-au-Saumon’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Lac-au-Saumon is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.040 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Lac-au-Saumon grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Lac-au-Saumon’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lac-au-Saumon: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lac-au-Saumon faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Lac-au-Saumon grades C for hazard risk
For Lac-au-Saumon, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Lac-au-Saumon: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Lac-au-Saumon’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Lac-au-Saumon’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The nearer ring around Lac-au-Saumon is less wooded (59% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (76%).
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
Of the 514 towns in Quebec, 145 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Lac-au-Saumon among them; Mistissini leads at 0.31% a year.
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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Lac-au-Saumon is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
No flood study is listed for Lac-au-Saumon
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Lac-au-Saumon: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Lac-au-Saumon, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Lac-au-Saumon.
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 Lac-au-Saumon’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.”
Expected shaking damage in Lac-au-Saumon: $0.040 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Lac-au-Saumon’s $0.040 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.3 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Lac-au-Saumon’s $0.040 sits under the median in Quebec, $0.14, and well under La Pocatière’s $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.
Lac-au-Saumon’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 43% of the 2,611 towns 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).
The loss is to Lac-au-Saumon’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).
Radon runs high around Lac-au-Saumon: 14% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Lac-au-Saumon: 14% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Lac-au-Saumon than in most towns in Quebec: 14% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 1.8% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Lac-au-Saumon sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Lac-au-Saumon as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Bas-Saint-Laurent health region, not by town
Weather and fire alerts for Lac-au-Saumon
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Lac-au-Saumon; 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 Lac-au-Saumon, 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)
How Lac-au-Saumon’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lac-au-Saumon | Low | $0.040 | 14% | None listed |
| Amqui 6,059 · 8.2 km | Low | $0.046 | 14% | Yes |
| Causapscal 2,151 · 11 km | Low | $0.033 | 14% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Lac-au-Saumon (low); Amqui comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lac-au-Saumon faces
Practical steps for Lac-au-Saumon’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Lac-au-Saumon’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 Lac-au-Saumon.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Lac-au-Saumon is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Lac-au-Saumon’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lac-au-Saumon
How is Lac-au-Saumon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Lac-au-Saumon C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Lac-au-Saumon flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Lac-au-Saumon, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Lac-au-Saumon at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Lac-au-Saumon: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Is radon a problem in Lac-au-Saumon?
The area’s survey found 14% of 171 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Lac-au-Saumon.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lac-au-Saumon?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Lac-au-Saumon’s buildings lose $0.040 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).