Photo: Montréal-Est · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Montréal-Est: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 6.8% of tested homes
Burn scars are few around Montréal-Est, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.16 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Montréal-Est a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Montréal-Est’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Montréal-Est: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Montréal-Est faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Montréal-Est: C
For Montréal-Est, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #126 of 507 in Quebec and #2,053 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 74 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Montréal-Est: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Montréal-Est’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.001% of the land around Montréal-Est each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Montréal-Est’s homes came within 13 km, never inside 5 km.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Montréal-Est: forest fuel is 0.9% within 5 km and 1.8% 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
Montréal-Est 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.
Some fire is mapped around Montréal-Est, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Montréal-Est
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Montréal-Est: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Montréal-Est on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Montréal-Est.
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 Montréal-Est 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Montréal-Est $0.16 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 5.3 times the typical $0.030: Montréal-Est’s $0.16 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Quebec: Montréal-Est’s $0.16 against $0.14; La Pocatière reaches $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.
Montréal-Est sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 15% are higher.
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 Montréal-Est’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 Montréal-Est: 6.8% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Montreal health region: radon tests
6.8% of tested homes around Montréal-Est were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Montréal-Est is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 6.8%, beside a median of 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Montréal-Est’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit higher.
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 Montréal-Est as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Montréal-Est
Alerts for Montréal-Est 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 Montréal-Est 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 Montréal-Est’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montréal-Est | Low | $0.16 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Tétreaultville 19,390 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Pointe-aux-Trembles 49,869 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Dupéré 15,036 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Beaurivage 13,574 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Rivière-des-Prairies 21,852 · 5.2 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | Yes |
| Anjou 43,243 · 5.2 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Tétreaultville (low), still no more than Montréal-Est (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Montréal-Est faces
Practical steps for Montréal-Est’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- 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 Montréal-Est floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Montréal-Est’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Montréal-Est sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Montréal-Est’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Montréal-Est
Is radon a problem in Montréal-Est?
The area’s survey found 6.8% of 74 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Montréal-Est.
Does Montréal-Est flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Montréal-Est, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Montréal-Est?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Montréal-Est’s buildings lose $0.16 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Montréal-Est at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Montréal-Est’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2015) is short of the level that counts.
How is Montréal-Est’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Montréal-Est C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).