Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0On hazards, Lebel-sur-Quévillon comes out behind almost every Canadian town
With 0.82% of the land around it burning each year, Lebel-sur-Quévillon sits in the high wildfire band (32% within 25 km since 1986). NRCan expects $0.017 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Lebel-sur-Quévillon, near the typical $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Lebel-sur-Quévillon as elsewhere, 5.8% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Lebel-sur-Quévillon a grade of D−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lebel-sur-Quévillon: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lebel-sur-Quévillon faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Lebel-sur-Quévillon grades D− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Lebel-sur-Quévillon, 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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
4% of the land near Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s homes has burned since 1986, 32% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
High: the land around Lebel-sur-Quévillon burns at 0.82% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The ring nearest Lebel-sur-Quévillon is the most wooded: 79% forest fuel within 5 km against 62% 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
Lebel-sur-Quévillon has the highest burn rate of the 514 towns in Quebec, 0.82% a year; next is Mistissini 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.
Just 1.9% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough for the high band where Lebel-sur-Quévillon sits; 0.2% burn faster.
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 Lebel-sur-Quévillon
Flood studies whose area touches Lebel-sur-Quévillon, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The inventory has nothing for Lebel-sur-Quévillon, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Lebel-sur-Quévillon has none.
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 Lebel-sur-Quévillon’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 Lebel-sur-Quévillon: $0.017 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.
Nothing unusual about Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s ground: $0.017 against a typical $0.030, 0.6 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s $0.017 against a median of $0.14; La Pocatière has $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.
70% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Lebel-sur-Quévillon.
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 Lebel-sur-Quévillon’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 about average around Lebel-sur-Quévillon: 5.8% 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 Nord-du-Quebec health region
At 5.8% over the guideline, the area around Lebel-sur-Quévillon is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Quebec is 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; around Lebel-sur-Quévillon it is 5.8%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Lebel-sur-Quévillon only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Lebel-sur-Quévillon
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Lebel-sur-Quévillon; 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 Lebel-sur-Quévillon 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 Lebel-sur-Quévillon faces
What to do about the hazards Lebel-sur-Quévillon faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Lebel-sur-Quévillon sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Lebel-sur-Quévillon floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lebel-sur-Quévillon
Is radon a problem in Lebel-sur-Quévillon?
Around Lebel-sur-Quévillon, 224 survey homes were tested and 5.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Lebel-sur-Quévillon flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Lebel-sur-Quévillon at risk of wildfire?
More than most Canadian towns; Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s high band rests on 32% of nearby land burned since 1986 (most recently 2023).
How is Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lebel-sur-Quévillon’s Hazard risk grade is D−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lebel-sur-Quévillon?
About $0.017 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Lebel-sur-Quévillon.
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).