Photo: Veillg1 · CC0Maricourt’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.2% of area homes over the radon guideline
Little of the land around Maricourt has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.002% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.23 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Maricourt grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Maricourt’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Maricourt: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Maricourt faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Maricourt grades C− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Maricourt, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #383 of 507 in Quebec and #2,362 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Maricourt: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Maricourt’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Maricourt burns at 0.002% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 6.3 km from Maricourt’s homes since 1986.
Around Maricourt the forest is thin or far off: 0.3% of the land within 5 km and 0.7% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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: Maricourt 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.
Maricourt 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Maricourt
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Maricourt: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Maricourt, 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 Maricourt has none.
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 Maricourt.
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 Maricourt: $0.23 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Maricourt loses $0.23, 7.6 times as much.
Maricourt shares its earthquake risk numbers with the rest of the city of Longueuil.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year; Maricourt expects $0.23, 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.
Only 6.4% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Maricourt.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Maricourt’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 Maricourt: 8.2% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Monteregie health region
Maricourt’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.2% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Maricourt’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.
Maricourt is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
One home in Maricourt can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Maricourt
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Maricourt; 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 Maricourt come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Maricourt
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maricourt | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Nouveau Greenfield Park 6,199 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Iberville 17,988 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Laurendeau 27,321 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Robert 9,186 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Roberval 2,536 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Laflèche 19,706 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
Maricourt’s low band tops its neighbours; Nouveau Greenfield Park is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Maricourt faces
What to do about the hazards Maricourt 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. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Maricourt until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Maricourt’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Maricourt’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Maricourt without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Maricourt
Is radon a problem in Maricourt?
Around Maricourt, 110 survey homes were tested and 8.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Maricourt’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Maricourt grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Maricourt?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Maricourt $0.23 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Maricourt flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Maricourt’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Maricourt at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Maricourt since 1986 (last in 2024); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).