Photo: Chacal1233 · CC BY-SA 3.0Radon is Paspébiac’s main hazard: 25% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Little of the land around Paspébiac has burned: 0% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Paspébiac is middling, $0.034 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Paspébiac grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Paspébiac’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Paspébiac: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Paspébiac faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Paspébiac grades C− for hazard risk
For Paspébiac, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #419 of 507 in Quebec and #2,408 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Paspébiac has burned: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Paspébiac’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Paspébiac’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The nearer ring around Paspébiac is less wooded (70% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (81%).
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
Little or nothing burns around Paspébiac in a typical year; 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec share that, and Mistissini leads at 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 holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Paspébiac sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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 Paspébiac
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Paspébiac: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Paspébiac; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Paspébiac has none.
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 Paspébiac.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Paspébiac: $0.034 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Paspébiac’s $0.034 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.1 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Paspébiac expects less, $0.034, and La Pocatière the most, $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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Paspébiac (46%).
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 Paspébiac’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).
Radon runs high around Paspébiac: 25% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Gaspesie - Iles-de-la-Madeleine health region
At 25% over the guideline, the area around Paspébiac beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Paspébiac than in most towns in Quebec: 25% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 3.4% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Paspébiac is in the 20–30% band, which holds only 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 1.5% are 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Paspébiac can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Paspébiac
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Paspébiac; 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. |
For fires near Paspébiac, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Paspébiac
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paspébiac | Low | $0.034 | 25% | None listed |
| New Carlisle 1,331 · 6.8 km | Low | $0.035 | 25% | None listed |
| Bonaventure 2,719 · 16 km | Low | $0.039 | 25% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Paspébiac has the most fire on record (low); New Carlisle follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Paspébiac faces
Practical steps for Paspébiac’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.
- 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 Paspébiac’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Paspébiac’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, Paspébiac takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Paspébiac.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Paspébiac
Does Paspébiac flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Paspébiac (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How is Paspébiac’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Paspébiac grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Paspébiac at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Paspébiac’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Paspébiac?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Paspébiac’s buildings lose $0.034 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Paspébiac?
25% of the 174 homes Health Canada tested around Paspébiac topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).