Photo: Benoit Rochon · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Napierville: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.2% of tested homes
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Napierville, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.18 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Napierville grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Napierville’s hazards
For Napierville, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Napierville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Napierville: C−
For Napierville, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #339 of 507 in Quebec and #2,305 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Napierville has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Napierville’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Napierville burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
The 5 km ring around Napierville’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 23 km out.
Forest makes up 0.9% of the land within 5 km of Napierville and 3.5% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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
Of the 513 towns in Quebec, 144 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Napierville among them; Mistissini leads at 0.31% 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Napierville, burning rounds to zero.
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 Napierville
Flood studies whose area touches Napierville, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Napierville on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Napierville has no flood study on file; only 45% of towns in Quebec do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Napierville 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 Napierville: $0.18 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Napierville’s $0.18 is about 6.1 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Quebec: Napierville’s $0.18 against a median of $0.14, with La Pocatière highest 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.
Napierville sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 13% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Napierville.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
8.2% of homes tested around Napierville are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
8.2% of tested homes around Napierville were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Napierville, 8.2% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in Quebec (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 Napierville’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.
Whatever Napierville’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). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Monteregie health region
Where to get warnings in Napierville
Alerts for Napierville 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 Napierville 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 Napierville’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Napierville | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Cyprien-de-Napierville 1,786 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Blaise-sur-Richelieu 2,165 · 8.4 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur 1,907 · 8.4 km | Low | $0.19 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Édouard 1,438 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Patrice-de-Sherrington 1,996 · 10 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Paul-de-l'Île-aux-Noix 2,321 · 13 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
Saint-Cyprien-de-Napierville burns a little more than Napierville, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Napierville faces
Practical steps for Napierville’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Napierville’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Napierville floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Napierville, 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. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Napierville sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Napierville
Is radon a problem in Napierville?
8.2% of the 110 homes Health Canada tested around Napierville topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Napierville flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Napierville (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Napierville?
About $0.18 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Napierville.
How is Napierville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Napierville grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Napierville at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Napierville’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2024), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).