Photo: Anonymous Unknown author · Public domainOn hazards, Mont-Joli comes out behind 88% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near Mont-Joli: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.093 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Mont-Joli a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Mont-Joli’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Mont-Joli: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Mont-Joli faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Mont-Joli: D
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Mont-Joli with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #444 of 507 in Quebec and #2,438 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.
Little of the land around Mont-Joli has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Mont-Joli’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Mont-Joli is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Within 5 km of Mont-Joli, 25% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 53%.
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
Little or nothing burns around Mont-Joli in a typical year; 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec share that, and Mistissini leads 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 holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Mont-Joli sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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 Mont-Joli
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Mont-Joli: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Mont-Joli; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Mont-Joli; 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Mont-Joli.
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 Mont-Joli $0.093 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Mont-Joli loses $0.093, 3.1 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Mont-Joli, at $0.093, is below the median of $0.14.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More earthquake risk than most: only 26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Mont-Joli.
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 model counts damage to Mont-Joli’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
14% of homes tested around Mont-Joli 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 Bas-Saint-Laurent health region: radon tests
Mont-Joli’s area, at 14%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Mont-Joli, 14% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.8% over 600, against a median of 8.2% in Quebec.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Mont-Joli, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 Mont-Joli 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 Mont-Joli
Alerts for Mont-Joli 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. |
Evacuation orders for Mont-Joli come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Mont-Joli’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mont-Joli | Low | $0.093 | 14% | None listed |
| Price 1,701 · 5.6 km | Low | $0.11 | 14% | None listed |
| Sainte-Angèle-de-Mérici 1,005 · 12 km | Low | $0.077 | 14% | None listed |
| Sainte-Luce 2,808 · 12 km | Low | $0.092 | 14% | None listed |
| Saint-Gabriel-de-Rimouski 1,239 · 19 km | Low | $0.085 | 14% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Mont-Joli (low); Price comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Mont-Joli faces
What to do about the hazards Mont-Joli 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
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 Mont-Joli’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Mont-Joli floods.
- 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 Mont-Joli sits in.
- 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 Mont-Joli’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mont-Joli
Is Mont-Joli at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Mont-Joli since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Mont-Joli’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Mont-Joli’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Mont-Joli flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Mont-Joli’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Mont-Joli?
Around Mont-Joli, 171 survey homes were tested and 14% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mont-Joli?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Mont-Joli $0.093 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).