Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Lambton’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 7.3% of area homes over the radon guideline
For Lambton, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Lambton as in most places, at $0.038 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Lambton grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Lambton’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lambton: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lambton faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Lambton: B
Two inputs always count for Lambton, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 55 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Lambton: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lambton’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around Lambton each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Lambton’s homes came within 19 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest thickens with distance from Lambton: 45% of the land within 5 km, 66% 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
Little or nothing burns around Lambton in a typical year; 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec share that, and Mistissini leads 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Lambton 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Lambton
Flood studies whose area touches Lambton, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Lambton has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Lambton.
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 Lambton’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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Lambton: $0.038 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 $0.038 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Lambton is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.3 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.038, Lambton is below the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière is highest at $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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 45% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Lambton.
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 model counts damage to Lambton’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Lambton: 7.3% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Estrie health region
The survey area of Lambton reads 7.3%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Lambton’s area has 7.3%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Lambton is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
One home in Lambton 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 Lambton
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Lambton; 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 Lambton, 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)
Hazards in the places around Lambton
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lambton | Low | $0.038 | 7.3% | None listed |
| La Guadeloupe 1,927 · 18 km | Low | $0.043 | 13% | None listed |
| Stratford 1,062 · 19 km | Low | $0.040 | 7.3% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Lambton has the most fire on record (low); La Guadeloupe follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lambton faces
What to do about the hazards Lambton 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Lambton’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Lambton without grading them.
- 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 Lambton until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Lambton’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lambton
Is radon a problem in Lambton?
Around Lambton, 55 survey homes were tested and 7.3% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Lambton flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Lambton’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lambton?
Expected earthquake damage in Lambton comes to $0.038 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Lambton’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lambton’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Lambton at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Lambton since 1986 (last in 2016); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).