Photo: Veillg1 · CC0A quiet place for hazards: low wildfire, little earthquake risk, and 0% of tested homes over the radon guideline in Lac-aux-Sables’ area
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Lac-aux-Sables, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.067 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Lac-aux-Sables grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Lac-aux-Sables’s hazards
For Lac-aux-Sables, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Lac-aux-Sables faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Lac-aux-Sables: A−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Lac-aux-Sables with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 58 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Lac-aux-Sables: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lac-aux-Sables’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Lac-aux-Sables burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Lac-aux-Sables’ homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 17 km away.
39% of the land within 5 km of Lac-aux-Sables is forest fuel, close to the 41% 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
Mistissini has the highest burn rate in Quebec, 0.31% a year; around Lac-aux-Sables, as around 145 of the 514 towns, it rounds to zero.
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.
Lac-aux-Sables shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Lac-aux-Sables
Flood studies whose area touches Lac-aux-Sables, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Lac-aux-Sables, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Lac-aux-Sables; 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 is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Lac-aux-Sables’ homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Lac-aux-Sables’ costliest hazard: $0.067 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.
At $0.067 per $1,000, Lac-aux-Sables carries roughly 2.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Lac-aux-Sables expects less, $0.067, and La Pocatière the most, $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: 29% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Lac-aux-Sables.
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 Lac-aux-Sables 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 Lac-aux-Sables: 0% of area 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
At 0% over the guideline, the area around Lac-aux-Sables is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Lac-aux-Sables’ area, at 0%, is below 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.
Lac-aux-Sables is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Lac-aux-Sables’ included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Lac-aux-Sables
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Lac-aux-Sables; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Lac-aux-Sables, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Lac-aux-Sables’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lac-aux-Sables | Low | $0.067 | 0% | None listed |
| Sainte-Thècle 2,422 · 10 km | Low | $0.063 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Ubalde 1,565 · 17 km | Low | $0.078 | 8.8% | None listed |
The fire record around Sainte-Thècle is a touch heavier than Lac-aux-Sables’, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lac-aux-Sables faces
What to do about the hazards Lac-aux-Sables 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.
- 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Lac-aux-Sables without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Lac-aux-Sables.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Lac-aux-Sables’ included.
- 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 Lac-aux-Sables until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lac-aux-Sables
Is radon a problem in Lac-aux-Sables?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0% of 58 homes tested in Lac-aux-Sables’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Lac-aux-Sables flood?
Nothing is listed for Lac-aux-Sables on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lac-aux-Sables?
Expected earthquake damage in Lac-aux-Sables comes to $0.067 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Lac-aux-Sables’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lac-aux-Sables’ Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Lac-aux-Sables at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Lac-aux-Sables has burned since 1986, the last in 2023, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).