Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Piedmont’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 10% of area homes over the radon guideline
Burn scars are few around Piedmont, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.072 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Piedmont grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Piedmont’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Piedmont: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Piedmont faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Piedmont grades C for hazard risk
The grade weighs Piedmont’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #235 of 507 in Quebec and #2,184 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around Piedmont has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Piedmont’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Piedmont’s 0.001% is in the low band.
The 5 km ring around Piedmont’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 8.0 km out.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Piedmont: 25% within 5 km and 30% 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 513
Piedmont sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 513 towns, at 0.001% a year, well behind Mistissini (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.
Some fire is mapped around Piedmont, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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 Piedmont
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Piedmont: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Piedmont, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Piedmont; in Quebec, 45% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
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 Piedmont’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.”
High seismic risk in Piedmont: $0.072 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Piedmont loses $0.072, 2.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Piedmont’s $0.072 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 28% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Piedmont.
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 Piedmont’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).
Test for radon in Piedmont: 10% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Piedmont’s area, at 10%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Piedmont 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Piedmont, 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.
The survey sampled homes around Piedmont; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Laurentides health region
Weather and fire alerts for Piedmont
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Piedmont; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Piedmont, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Piedmont’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piedmont | Low | $0.072 | 10% | None listed |
| Saint-Sauveur 12,112 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.094 | 10% | None listed |
| Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs 4,080 · 4.9 km | Low | $0.10 | 10% | None listed |
| Sainte-Adèle 15,216 · 6.4 km | Low | $0.072 | 10% | Yes |
| Morin-Heights 5,086 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.069 | 10% | None listed |
| Prévost 14,275 · 7.6 km | Low | $0.088 | 10% | Yes |
| Saint-Hippolyte 12,550 · 10 km | Low | $0.085 | 10% | None listed |
The fire record around Saint-Sauveur is a touch heavier than Piedmont’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Piedmont faces
What to do about the hazards Piedmont 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.
- 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Piedmont’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Piedmont floods.
- 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 Piedmont sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Piedmont’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Piedmont
Is Piedmont at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Piedmont since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Piedmont?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Piedmont’s buildings lose $0.072 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Piedmont’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Piedmont’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Piedmont?
Around Piedmont, 78 survey homes were tested and 10% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Piedmont flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Piedmont’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).