Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Ormstown is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
Fire seldom reaches Ormstown: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.002% 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. Ormstown’s survey area, 8.2% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Ormstown grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Ormstown’s hazards
For Ormstown, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Ormstown faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Ormstown grades C− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Ormstown’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #369 of 507 in Quebec and #2,342 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.
Few fires near Ormstown: 0.3% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Ormstown’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.002% of the land near Ormstown burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Only 3.8% of the land within 25 km of Ormstown is forest fuel, and 2.7% close in.
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
Ormstown ranks 35th of the 513 towns in Quebec for burn rate, at 0.002% a year; Mistissini leads with 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Ormstown among them, though its rate is above zero; 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 Ormstown, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Ormstown: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 1996 study by Gouvernement du Québec covers Ormstown, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ormstown | Gouvernement du Québec | 1996 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Ormstown has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Ormstown.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Ormstown $0.20 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 6.6 times the typical $0.030: Ormstown’s $0.20 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year; Ormstown expects $0.20, and La Pocatière $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 12% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Ormstown.
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 Ormstown 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).
8.2% of homes tested around Ormstown are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
8.2% of tested homes around Ormstown were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Ormstown’s area has 8.2%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Ormstown, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Ormstown’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Monteregie health region
Where to get warnings in Ormstown
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Ormstown; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Ormstown come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Ormstown’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ormstown | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Franklin 1,754 · 9.3 km | Low | $0.16 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague 2,536 · 12 km | Low | $0.19 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka 2,162 · 13 km | Low | $0.19 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Huntingdon 3,001 · 14 km | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Hinchinbrooke 2,350 · 14 km | Low | $0.17 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Très-Saint-Sacrement 1,223 · 15 km | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague (low) has the heaviest fire record of Ormstown’s neighbours, and Ormstown (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Ormstown faces
Practical steps for Ormstown’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Ormstown until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Ormstown without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Ormstown’s included.
- 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 Ormstown.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ormstown
How is Ormstown’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Ormstown C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Ormstown flood?
A flood study covers Ormstown on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Ormstown at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Ormstown’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Ormstown?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Ormstown $0.20 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Ormstown?
The area’s survey found 8.2% of 110 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Ormstown.
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).