Photo: Ldesbiens at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 2.5L'Anse-Saint-Jean is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of L'Anse-Saint-Jean’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.18 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 2.8% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). L'Anse-Saint-Jean grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about L'Anse-Saint-Jean’s hazards
For L'Anse-Saint-Jean, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What L'Anse-Saint-Jean faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
L'Anse-Saint-Jean grades B− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make L'Anse-Saint-Jean’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 72 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around L'Anse-Saint-Jean has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where L'Anse-Saint-Jean’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of L'Anse-Saint-Jean burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to L'Anse-Saint-Jean’s homes came within 13 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest fuel covers 50% of the land close to L'Anse-Saint-Jean and 70% across 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); L'Anse-Saint-Jean 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; L'Anse-Saint-Jean 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.
L'Anse-Saint-Jean is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches L'Anse-Saint-Jean, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Gouvernement du Québec holds the flood mapping that covers L'Anse-Saint-Jean (2000), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anse-St-Jean | Gouvernement du Québec | 2000 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
L'Anse-Saint-Jean is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for L'Anse-Saint-Jean.
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 L'Anse-Saint-Jean $0.18 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.
Roughly 6.1 times the typical $0.030: L'Anse-Saint-Jean’s $0.18 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year; L'Anse-Saint-Jean expects $0.18, and La Pocatière $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.
13% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than L'Anse-Saint-Jean, which places it in the upper third.
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 L'Anse-Saint-Jean.
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 L'Anse-Saint-Jean: 2.8% of tested 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 Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean health region
L'Anse-Saint-Jean’s area, at 2.8%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around L'Anse-Saint-Jean, 2.8% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³, under the median in Quebec (8.2%); 1.4% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: L'Anse-Saint-Jean shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in L'Anse-Saint-Jean, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in L'Anse-Saint-Jean
Alerts for L'Anse-Saint-Jean come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near L'Anse-Saint-Jean are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what L'Anse-Saint-Jean faces
Practical steps for L'Anse-Saint-Jean’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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region L'Anse-Saint-Jean sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, L'Anse-Saint-Jean’s included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in L'Anse-Saint-Jean floods.
- 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 L'Anse-Saint-Jean.
Questions about flooding and hazards in L'Anse-Saint-Jean
How big is the earthquake risk in L'Anse-Saint-Jean?
About $0.18 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for L'Anse-Saint-Jean.
How is L'Anse-Saint-Jean’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives L'Anse-Saint-Jean B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in L'Anse-Saint-Jean?
The area’s survey found 2.8% of 72 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in L'Anse-Saint-Jean.
Is L'Anse-Saint-Jean at risk of wildfire?
Some, but L'Anse-Saint-Jean’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
Does L'Anse-Saint-Jean flood?
L'Anse-Saint-Jean’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).