Photo: Benjilafouine · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Lac-Simon: 2 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Lac-Simon, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.095 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is higher than usual: 13% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Lac-Simon a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Lac-Simon’s hazards
For Lac-Simon, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Lac-Simon 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-Simon: C−
Seismic risk and radon set Lac-Simon’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 63 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.
Few fires near Lac-Simon: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Lac-Simon’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Lac-Simon is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Lac-Simon’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 6.1 km away.
Forest fuel is denser close to Lac-Simon (32% within 5 km) than further out (26% 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
Among the 514 towns in Quebec, Mistissini burns fastest (0.31% a year); Lac-Simon is with the 145 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-Simon 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-Simon is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Lac-Simon: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Gouvernement du Québec and others have studied flooding in areas that include Lac-Simon: 2 studies, the latest from 2006.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lac-Simon | Gouvernement du Québec | 2006 | final |
| Ripon-St-André-Avellin | Gouvernement du Québec | 2006 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Lac-Simon is one of them.
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-Simon’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Lac-Simon $0.095 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 3.2 times the typical $0.030: Lac-Simon’s $0.095 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Lac-Simon’s $0.095 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 26% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Lac-Simon.
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-Simon 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).
Radon runs high around Lac-Simon: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A higher share than most: 13% of tested homes around Lac-Simon, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Lac-Simon doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Outaouais health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Lac-Simon than in most towns in Quebec: 13% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 4.8% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Lac-Simon, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 Lac-Simon 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 Lac-Simon
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Lac-Simon; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Lac-Simon come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Lac-Simon
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lac-Simon | Low | $0.095 | 13% | Yes |
| Montpellier 1,253 · 9.0 km | Low | $0.092 | 13% | None listed |
| Ripon 1,835 · 14 km | Low | $0.090 | 13% | Yes |
Montpellier burns a little more than Lac-Simon, 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 Lac-Simon faces
Practical steps for Lac-Simon’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Lac-Simon’s included.
- 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-Simon.
- 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-Simon.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Lac-Simon takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lac-Simon
How is Lac-Simon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Lac-Simon C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Lac-Simon flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Lac-Simon; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Lac-Simon at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Lac-Simon’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Lac-Simon?
The area’s survey found 13% of 63 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Lac-Simon.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lac-Simon?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Lac-Simon’s buildings lose $0.095 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).