Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Laurier-Station is higher than in 91% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Laurier-Station, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.14 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Laurier-Station grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Laurier-Station’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Laurier-Station: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Laurier-Station faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Laurier-Station: D
For Laurier-Station, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #477 of 507 in Quebec and #2,486 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Laurier-Station has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Laurier-Station’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Laurier-Station fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The 5 km ring around Laurier-Station’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 25 km out.
Within 5 km of Laurier-Station, 22% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 38%.
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 513
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Laurier-Station, as for 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops the list 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; Laurier-Station 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.
No flood study is listed for Laurier-Station
Flood studies whose area touches Laurier-Station, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Laurier-Station on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Laurier-Station is not among them.
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 Laurier-Station.
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 Laurier-Station: $0.14 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.
Roughly 4.5 times the typical $0.030: Laurier-Station’s $0.14 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Quebec: Laurier-Station’s $0.14 against $0.14; La Pocatière reaches $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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Laurier-Station.
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 Laurier-Station’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 high around Laurier-Station: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A higher share than most: 13% of tested homes around Laurier-Station, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region, Laurier-Station included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Laurier-Station, 13% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 0.6% over 600, against a median of 8.2% in Quebec.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Laurier-Station is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are higher.
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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Laurier-Station can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Laurier-Station
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Laurier-Station; 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 Laurier-Station 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 Laurier-Station’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laurier-Station | Low | $0.14 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Flavien 1,682 · 4.7 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Janvier-de-Joly 1,204 · 7.0 km | Low | $0.13 | 13% | None listed |
| Sainte-Croix 2,612 · 12 km | Low | $0.13 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Apollinaire 9,218 · 13 km | Low | $0.14 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly 1,747 · 14 km | Low | $0.14 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Agapit 4,817 · 15 km | Low | $0.13 | 13% | Yes |
Sainte-Croix burns a little more than Laurier-Station, 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 Laurier-Station faces
Practical steps for Laurier-Station’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Laurier-Station.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Laurier-Station’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Laurier-Station takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Laurier-Station’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Laurier-Station
Is Laurier-Station at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Laurier-Station’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2018) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Laurier-Station?
The area’s survey found 13% of 175 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Laurier-Station.
How is Laurier-Station’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Laurier-Station D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Laurier-Station?
About $0.14 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Laurier-Station.
Does Laurier-Station flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Laurier-Station, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).