Photo: Sylfred1977 · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Mont-Laurier: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
Burn scars are few around Mont-Laurier, with 0% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.083 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Mont-Laurier grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Mont-Laurier’s hazards
For Mont-Laurier, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Mont-Laurier 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-Laurier: C
The grade weighs Mont-Laurier’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #256 of 507 in Quebec and #2,208 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 78 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Mont-Laurier: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Mont-Laurier’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Mont-Laurier burns at 0.001% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
There is forest near Mont-Laurier’s homes (18% within 5 km) and more of it further out (25% 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
Mont-Laurier sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 513 towns, at 0.001% a year, well behind Mistissini (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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Mont-Laurier reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
A flood study covers Mont-Laurier, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Mont-Laurier, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Mont-Laurier the inventory points to Gouvernement du Québec’s 1996 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mont-Laurier-Ferme-Neuve | Gouvernement du Québec | 1996 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mont-Laurier is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than 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 Mont-Laurier 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Shaking is Mont-Laurier’s costliest hazard: $0.083 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.083 per $1,000, Mont-Laurier carries roughly 2.8 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: Mont-Laurier’s $0.083 against a median of $0.14; La Pocatière has $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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 27% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Mont-Laurier.
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 Mont-Laurier 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).
10% of homes tested around Mont-Laurier are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Mont-Laurier’s area, at 10%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Mont-Laurier, 10% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.3% 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Mont-Laurier among them; 4.6% 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.
Whatever Mont-Laurier’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Laurentides health region)
Where to get warnings in Mont-Laurier
Alerts for Mont-Laurier 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 Mont-Laurier to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Mont-Laurier’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mont-Laurier | Low | $0.083 | 10% | Yes |
| Lac-des-Écorces 3,005 · 14 km | Low | $0.086 | 10% | None listed |
| Ferme-Neuve 2,816 · 18 km | Low | $0.084 | 10% | None listed |
Mont-Laurier’s low band tops its neighbours; Lac-des-Écorces is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Mont-Laurier faces
What to do about the hazards Mont-Laurier 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Mont-Laurier.
- 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-Laurier 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-Laurier sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Mont-Laurier’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mont-Laurier
Does Mont-Laurier flood?
Mont-Laurier’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Mont-Laurier’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Mont-Laurier C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Mont-Laurier at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Mont-Laurier has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mont-Laurier?
Expected earthquake damage in Mont-Laurier comes to $0.083 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Mont-Laurier?
In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of 78 homes tested in Mont-Laurier’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).