Photo: DomLemLali · CC BY-SA 4.0Marieville’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.2% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire is rare near Marieville: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.16 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Marieville grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Marieville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Marieville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Marieville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Marieville grades C for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Marieville with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #280 of 507 in Quebec and #2,233 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 Marieville: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Marieville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Marieville burns at 0.001% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Marieville’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 7.4 km away.
Little near Marieville’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0.2% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.6% 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 upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Marieville ranks 136th of 513, at 0.001% a year.
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, Marieville 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 Marieville
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Marieville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Marieville, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Marieville.
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 Marieville 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.”
Shaking is Marieville’s costliest hazard: $0.16 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.16 per $1,000, Marieville carries roughly 5.3 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Marieville, at $0.16, is right beside it, and La Pocatière tops the list at $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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 15% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Marieville.
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 Marieville’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).
Some radon around Marieville: 8.2% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
The survey area of Marieville reads 8.2%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Marieville’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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Marieville’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 Marieville only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Monteregie health region)
Weather and fire alerts for Marieville
Alerts for Marieville 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Marieville are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Marieville’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marieville | Low | $0.16 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Richelieu 6,048 · 5.9 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Sainte-Angèle-de-Monnoir 1,862 · 6.9 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Mathias-sur-Richelieu 4,598 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Rougemont 2,832 · 9.2 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Jean-Baptiste 3,332 · 9.2 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Mont-Saint-Grégoire 3,158 · 10 km | Low | $0.16 | 8.2% | None listed |
The fire record around Richelieu is a touch heavier than Marieville’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Marieville faces
What to do about the hazards Marieville 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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Marieville’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Marieville’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Marieville is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Marieville.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Marieville
Is radon a problem in Marieville?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Marieville’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Marieville flood?
Nothing is listed for Marieville on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Marieville at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Marieville has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Marieville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Marieville C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Marieville?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Marieville’s buildings lose $0.16 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).