Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Pierreville is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Pierreville’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.14 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Pierreville grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Pierreville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Pierreville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Pierreville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Pierreville grades B+ for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Pierreville, 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 58 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 Pierreville has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Pierreville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.001% of the land near Pierreville burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Pierreville’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 6.3 km away.
Around Pierreville the forest is thin or far off: 4.2% of the land within 5 km and 4.7% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
At 0.001% a year, Pierreville ranks 136th of the 514 towns in Quebec; 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Pierreville burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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.
Flooding around Pierreville is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Pierreville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Gouvernement du Québec and others have studied flooding in areas that include Pierreville: 2 studies, the latest from 1996.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varennes-Grondines | Gouvernement du Québec | 1996 | final |
| Pierreville | Gouvernement du Québec | 1991 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Pierreville has one.
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 Pierreville’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Pierreville $0.14 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.14 per $1,000, Pierreville carries roughly 4.7 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Pierreville ($0.14) matches the middle in Quebec ($0.14), far from 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 20% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Pierreville.
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 model counts damage to Pierreville’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Pierreville: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Pierreville’s area, at 0%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high. Pierreville doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Mauricie et Centre-du-Quebec health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), the area around Pierreville has fewer high tests: 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Pierreville is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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 Pierreville 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 Pierreville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Pierreville; 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 Pierreville, 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 Pierreville
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pierreville | Low | $0.14 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-François-du-Lac 1,927 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.12 | 0% | Yes |
| Baie-du-Febvre 1,023 · 8.4 km | Low | $0.13 | 0% | Yes |
| Yamaska 1,815 · 11 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Robert 1,846 · 16 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Bonaventure 1,086 · 17 km | Low | $0.13 | 0% | None listed |
| Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel 2,770 · 19 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.2% | Yes |
Nowhere around Pierreville burns more: Saint-François-du-Lac, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Pierreville faces
What to do about the hazards Pierreville 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. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Pierreville.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Pierreville is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Pierreville’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Pierreville’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pierreville
Does Pierreville flood?
There is flood mapping for Pierreville on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Pierreville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Pierreville grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pierreville?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Pierreville’s buildings lose $0.14 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Pierreville at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Pierreville has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Pierreville?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0% of 58 homes tested in Pierreville’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).