Photo: Veillg1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Papineauville is higher than in 87% of Canadian towns
Around Papineauville, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.11 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Papineauville a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Papineauville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Papineauville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Papineauville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Papineauville grades D for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Papineauville, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 63 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 Papineauville: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Papineauville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Papineauville’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Papineauville’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 12 km away.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Papineauville: 15% within 5 km and 14% 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
Of the 514 towns in Quebec, 145 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Papineauville 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Papineauville, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
Papineauville is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Papineauville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Papineauville, Gouvernement du Québec’s from 2012, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Papineauville-St-André-Avellin | Gouvernement du Québec | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Papineauville among them, below the 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Papineauville’s homes are at risk.
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.
Shaking is Papineauville’s costliest hazard: $0.11 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.11 per $1,000, Papineauville carries roughly 3.5 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Papineauville’s $0.11 sits under the median in Quebec, $0.14, and well under La Pocatière’s $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.
Papineauville sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 25% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Papineauville’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
13% of homes tested around Papineauville are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Papineauville’s area has 13%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Papineauville (13%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 4.8% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Papineauville, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Papineauville only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Outaouais health region)
Weather and fire alerts for Papineauville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Papineauville; 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 Papineauville 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 Papineauville’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Papineauville | Low | $0.11 | 13% | Yes |
| Plaisance 1,191 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.11 | 13% | None listed |
| Wendover 10,896 · 8.5 km | Low | $0.16 | 6.1% | None listed |
| Saint-André-Avellin 3,862 · 11 km | Low | $0.11 | 13% | Yes |
| Thurso 3,439 · 18 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | None listed |
| Ripon 1,835 · 18 km | Low | $0.090 | 13% | Yes |
Plaisance burns a little more than Papineauville, 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 Papineauville faces
What to do about the hazards Papineauville 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?
- 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
- 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 Papineauville.
- 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 Papineauville’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Papineauville’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Papineauville takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Papineauville
Is radon a problem in Papineauville?
In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of 63 homes tested in Papineauville’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Papineauville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Papineauville D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Papineauville?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Papineauville’s buildings lose $0.11 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Papineauville at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Papineauville has burned since 1986, the last in 2020, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Papineauville flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Papineauville; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the 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).