Photo: essede · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Lac-Etchemin: 1 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Lac-Etchemin: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.052 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Lac-Etchemin, near the typical $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Lac-Etchemin a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Lac-Etchemin’s hazards
For Lac-Etchemin, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Lac-Etchemin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Lac-Etchemin grades C− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Lac-Etchemin with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #358 of 507 in Quebec and #2,329 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Lac-Etchemin: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lac-Etchemin’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Lac-Etchemin is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 11 km from Lac-Etchemin’s homes, none within 5 km.
About as much forest grows next to Lac-Etchemin’s homes (74% within 5 km) as across 25 km (73%).
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
Among the 513 towns in Quebec, Mistissini burns fastest (0.31% a year); Lac-Etchemin is with the 144 near 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Lac-Etchemin sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are 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.
Lac-Etchemin is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Lac-Etchemin, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2007 study by Gouvernement du Québec covers Lac-Etchemin, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lac-Etchemin | Gouvernement du Québec | 2007 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Lac-Etchemin has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Lac-Etchemin.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Lac-Etchemin $0.052 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Lac-Etchemin’s $0.052 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.7 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: Lac-Etchemin’s $0.052 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 30% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Lac-Etchemin.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Lac-Etchemin.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Lac-Etchemin: 13% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Lac-Etchemin’s area, at 13%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region, with Lac-Etchemin one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Lac-Etchemin than in most towns in Quebec: 13% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 0.6% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Lac-Etchemin, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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.
A low area share in Lac-Etchemin doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Lac-Etchemin
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Lac-Etchemin; 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-Etchemin, 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-Etchemin’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lac-Etchemin | Low | $0.052 | 13% | Yes |
| Sainte-Justine 1,822 · 11 km | Low | $0.062 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Odilon-de-Cranbourne 1,460 · 13 km | Low | $0.062 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Léon-de-Standon 1,033 · 13 km | Low | $0.056 | 13% | Yes |
| Saint-Benjamin 1,267 · 18 km | Low | $0.055 | 13% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Lac-Etchemin (low), with Sainte-Justine next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lac-Etchemin faces
What to do about the hazards Lac-Etchemin 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Lac-Etchemin takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Lac-Etchemin.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Lac-Etchemin’s included.
- 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-Etchemin.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lac-Etchemin
How is Lac-Etchemin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lac-Etchemin grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lac-Etchemin?
About $0.052 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Lac-Etchemin.
Is Lac-Etchemin at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Lac-Etchemin since 1986 (last in 2022); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Lac-Etchemin flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Lac-Etchemin; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Lac-Etchemin?
Around Lac-Etchemin, 175 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).