Photo: Veillg1 · CC0Centre’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.2% of area homes over the radon guideline
Fire seldom reaches Centre: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.002% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.23 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Centre a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Centre’s hazards
For Centre, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Centre faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Centre: C−
For Centre, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #383 of 507 in Quebec and #2,362 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Centre: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Centre’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.002% burned a year, Centre is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Centre’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 13 km away.
Forest fuel is scarce around Centre: 0.3% of the land within 5 km, 0.9% 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 513
In the top quarter in Quebec: Centre ranks 35th of 513 at 0.002% 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Centre among them, though its rate is above zero; 7.5% rank 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 Centre
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Centre: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Centre; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Centre; in Quebec, 45% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Centre floods.
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 Centre: $0.23 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 7.6 times the typical $0.030: Centre’s $0.23 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Centre’s $0.23 tops the median in Quebec, $0.14, though 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.
Only 6.4% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Centre.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Centre is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: the city of Longueuil
8.2% of homes tested around Centre are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Monteregie health region: radon tests
Near the middle for radon: Centre’s area 8.2%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Centre’s area, at 8.2%, is close to the median in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Centre, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Centre’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Centre
Alerts for Centre 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Centre to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Centre
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centre | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Bellerive 4,393 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Sacré-Coeur 20,375 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Parcours-du-Cerf - Du Tremblay 21,776 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Carillon / Saint-Pie-X 5,457 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Collectivité Nouvelle 3,587 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Vincent-de-Paul 8,352 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Bellerive (low), still no more than Centre (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Centre faces
Practical steps for Centre’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Centre’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Centre takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Centre.
- 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 Centre.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Centre
Does Centre flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Centre, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Centre?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Centre’s buildings lose $0.23 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Centre?
The area’s survey found 8.2% of 110 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Centre.
Is Centre at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Centre’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
How is Centre’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Centre C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).