Photo: P199 · Public domainLac Simon’s hazards at a glance: a moderate wildfire record and 4.3% of area homes over the radon guideline
Fire reaches the land around Lac Simon now and then: 2.5% within 25 km since 1986 (0.06% a year), below the high band. Earthquake risk in Lac Simon is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.035 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Lac Simon grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Lac Simon’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lac Simon: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
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: A−
Earthquake risk and radon make Lac Simon’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 69 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Fire reaches the land around Lac Simon: 0% within 5 km, 2.5% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lac Simon’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.06% of the land a year, Lac Simon’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Lac Simon’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 11 km away.
The ring nearest Lac Simon is the most wooded: 86% forest fuel within 5 km against 78% 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
The land around Lac Simon burns at 0.06% a year, the 9th highest rate of 514 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops it at 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.
Lac Simon is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% rank higher.
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 Simon
Flood studies whose area touches Lac Simon, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Lac Simon; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Lac Simon; 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 Simon’s 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Lac Simon: $0.035 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.035 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Lac Simon is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.2 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Lac Simon’s $0.035 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Lac Simon (46%).
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 Simon’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 low around Lac Simon: 4.3% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Abitibi-Temiscamingue health region: radon tests
Lac Simon’s survey area reads 4.3% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), the area around Lac Simon has fewer high tests: 4.3%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Lac Simon with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
One home in Lac Simon can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for 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)
Get ready for what Lac Simon faces
Practical steps for Lac Simon’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Simon until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Lac Simon’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Simon’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Lac Simon without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lac Simon
Is Lac Simon at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Lac Simon’s band is moderate, with 2.5% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2023), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Lac Simon flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Lac Simon (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Lac Simon?
4.3% of the 69 homes Health Canada tested around Lac Simon topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lac Simon?
Expected earthquake damage in Lac Simon comes to $0.035 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Lac Simon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lac Simon grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).