Photo: Coastal Elite from Halifax, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Upper Lachine’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 6.8% of area homes over the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Upper Lachine: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.20 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Upper Lachine grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Upper Lachine’s hazards
For Upper Lachine, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Upper Lachine faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Upper Lachine grades C for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Upper Lachine with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #161 of 507 in Quebec and #2,110 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 74 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Upper Lachine: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Upper Lachine’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.001% of the land a year around Upper Lachine, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 6.2 km from Upper Lachine’s homes since 1986.
With 0.2% forest fuel within 5 km and 0.5% within 25 km, the land around Upper Lachine gives a fire little to burn.
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
Upper Lachine 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.
Upper Lachine is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 Upper Lachine
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Upper Lachine: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Upper Lachine has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Upper Lachine has none.
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 Upper Lachine 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.”
High seismic risk in Upper Lachine: $0.20 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.20 per $1,000, Upper Lachine carries roughly 6.7 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Upper Lachine’s $0.20 tops the median in Quebec, $0.14, though 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.
Upper Lachine is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 8.5% rank 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Upper Lachine 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). · Earthquake risk: the city of Montréal
Some radon around Upper Lachine: 6.8% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Around Upper Lachine, 6.8% of tested homes topped the guideline, near 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; Upper Lachine’s area has 6.8%, 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 Upper Lachine’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.
A low area share in Upper Lachine doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Montreal health region)
Where to get warnings in Upper Lachine
Alerts for Upper Lachine 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 Upper Lachine to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Upper Lachine’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Lachine | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Côte-Saint-Antoine 20,415 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Loyola 26,607 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Snowdon 22,511 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Hampstead 7,464 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.22 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Ville-Émard 13,826 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Westmount 20,377 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.12 | 6.8% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Upper Lachine (low); Côte-Saint-Antoine comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Upper Lachine faces
What to do about the hazards Upper Lachine 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Upper Lachine.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Upper Lachine, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Upper Lachine takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Upper Lachine’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Upper Lachine
Is Upper Lachine at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Upper Lachine has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Upper Lachine?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Upper Lachine $0.20 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Upper Lachine’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Upper Lachine C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Upper Lachine flood?
Nothing is listed for Upper Lachine on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Upper Lachine?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.8% of 74 homes tested in Upper Lachine’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).