Photo: Alain Hardy · CC BY 3.0Notre-Dame-du-Laus’ hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 10% of area homes over the radon guideline
Fire seldom reaches Notre-Dame-du-Laus: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.086 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Notre-Dame-du-Laus grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Notre-Dame-du-Laus’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Notre-Dame-du-Laus: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Notre-Dame-du-Laus faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Notre-Dame-du-Laus grades C for hazard risk
For Notre-Dame-du-Laus, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Notre-Dame-du-Laus: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.1% within 5 km
Past fire around Notre-Dame-du-Laus’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.001% of the land a year, Notre-Dame-du-Laus’ burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest crowds in on Notre-Dame-du-Laus: 32% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 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 514
Notre-Dame-du-Laus burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 514 towns in Quebec; the leader, Mistissini, reaches 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, Notre-Dame-du-Laus 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Notre-Dame-du-Laus
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Notre-Dame-du-Laus: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Notre-Dame-du-Laus on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Notre-Dame-du-Laus 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Notre-Dame-du-Laus.
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 Notre-Dame-du-Laus: $0.086 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 2.9 times the typical $0.030: Notre-Dame-du-Laus’ $0.086 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: Notre-Dame-du-Laus’ $0.086 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 27% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Notre-Dame-du-Laus.
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 Notre-Dame-du-Laus’ 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).
Test for radon in Notre-Dame-du-Laus: 10% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Laurentides health region
More homes than usual test high around Notre-Dame-du-Laus: 10% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Notre-Dame-du-Laus than in most towns in Quebec: 10% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 1.3% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Notre-Dame-du-Laus sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Notre-Dame-du-Laus as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Notre-Dame-du-Laus
Alerts for Notre-Dame-du-Laus 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 Notre-Dame-du-Laus to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Notre-Dame-du-Laus faces
Practical steps for Notre-Dame-du-Laus’ 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.
- 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
- 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 Notre-Dame-du-Laus’.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Notre-Dame-du-Laus until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Notre-Dame-du-Laus’ 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. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Notre-Dame-du-Laus without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Notre-Dame-du-Laus
Is radon a problem in Notre-Dame-du-Laus?
The area’s survey found 10% of 78 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Notre-Dame-du-Laus.
Does Notre-Dame-du-Laus flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Notre-Dame-du-Laus, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Notre-Dame-du-Laus?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Notre-Dame-du-Laus $0.086 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Notre-Dame-du-Laus at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Notre-Dame-du-Laus’ low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Notre-Dame-du-Laus’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Notre-Dame-du-Laus 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).