Photo: Anonymous Unknown author · Public domainHazards in Roberval: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.2% of tested homes
Wildfire is rare near Roberval: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 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. Roberval grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Roberval’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Roberval: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Roberval faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Roberval grades C− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Roberval, 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: 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.
Few fires near Roberval: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Roberval’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Roberval’s 0.002% is in the low band.
Fire has stayed at least 9.8 km from Roberval’s homes since 1986.
Only 0.8% of the land within 25 km of Roberval is forest fuel, and 0.4% close in.
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
Mistissini burns fastest in Quebec at 0.31% a year; Roberval, at 0.002%, ranks 35th of 513.
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, Roberval 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 Roberval
Flood studies whose area touches Roberval, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Roberval, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Roberval has no flood study on file; only 45% of towns in Quebec do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Roberval’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Roberval $0.23 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Roberval loses $0.23, 7.6 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year; Roberval 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Roberval: 6.4% of them.
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 Roberval’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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Longueuil
8.2% of homes tested around Roberval are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Roberval’s area 8.2%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Roberval doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Monteregie health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Roberval’s area has 8.2%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Roberval 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Roberval as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Roberval
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Roberval; 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 Roberval 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 Roberval
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roberval | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Zone Aéroportuaire 3,588 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Robert 9,186 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Sacré-Coeur 20,375 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Vincent-de-Paul 8,352 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Parcours-du-Cerf - Du Tremblay 21,776 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Maricourt 14,407 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Zone Aéroportuaire (low), still no more than Roberval (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Roberval faces
What to do about the hazards Roberval 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 Roberval is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Roberval’s.
- 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 Roberval.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Roberval’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Roberval
Is Roberval at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Roberval since 1986 (last in 2024); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Roberval flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Roberval’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Roberval?
Around Roberval, 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 Roberval’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Roberval 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 Roberval?
Expected earthquake damage in Roberval comes to $0.23 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).