Photo: Étudiant-e désirant garder l'anonymat. · CC BY-SA 4.0Larouche’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 2.8% of area homes over the radon guideline
Burn scars are few around Larouche, with 1.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.03% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.20 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Larouche a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Larouche’s hazards
For Larouche, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Larouche faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Larouche: B−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Larouche with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 72 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 Larouche: 0% within 5 km, 1.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Larouche’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Fire claims 0.03% of the land around Larouche each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Forest crowds in on Larouche: 82% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 59% 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
In the top quarter in Quebec: Larouche ranks 12th of 514 at 0.03% a year, with Mistissini first 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.
Larouche is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
No flood study is listed for Larouche
Flood studies whose area touches Larouche, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Larouche 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 Larouche.
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 Larouche.
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.”
High seismic risk in Larouche: $0.20 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.
At $0.20 per $1,000, Larouche carries roughly 6.5 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year; Larouche expects $0.20, 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 12% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Larouche.
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 Larouche.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Larouche: 2.8% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean health region
At 2.8% over the guideline, the area around Larouche is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Larouche, 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.
Larouche is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Larouche, 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 Larouche
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Larouche; 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 Larouche come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Larouche’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larouche | Low | $0.20 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Bruno 2,935 · 10 km | Low | $0.24 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Hébertville-Station 1,298 · 11 km | Low | $0.27 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Hébertville 2,588 · 13 km | Low | $0.20 | 2.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Nazaire 2,167 · 16 km | Low | $0.21 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Alma 30,659 · 16 km | Low | $0.22 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Gédéon 2,349 · 18 km | Low | $0.22 | 2.8% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Larouche (low); Hébertville comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Larouche faces
What to do about the hazards Larouche 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Larouche is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Larouche’s included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Larouche.
- 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 Larouche.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Larouche
How is Larouche’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Larouche’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Larouche?
In Health Canada’s survey, 2.8% of 72 homes tested in Larouche’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Larouche at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 1.1% of the land within 25 km of Larouche has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Larouche?
About $0.20 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Larouche.
Does Larouche flood?
Nothing is listed for Larouche on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).