Photo: Veillg1 · CC BY-SA 4.0On hazards, Plaisance comes out behind 88% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Plaisance, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.11 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is higher than usual: 13% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Plaisance a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Plaisance’s hazards
For Plaisance, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Plaisance faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Plaisance grades D for hazard risk
For Plaisance, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 63 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Plaisance: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Plaisance’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Plaisance fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Plaisance’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 13 km away.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Plaisance: 17% 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
In the upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Plaisance ranks 136th of 514, at 0.001% 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.
Some fire is mapped around Plaisance, 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 Plaisance
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Plaisance: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Plaisance, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Plaisance; 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.
Flood mapping is shown for Plaisance to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.”
Shaking is Plaisance’s costliest hazard: $0.11 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Plaisance’s $0.11 is about 3.7 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Plaisance, at $0.11, is below the median of $0.14.
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 25% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Plaisance.
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).
For Plaisance the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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 Plaisance are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Outaouais health region
At 13% over the guideline, the area around Plaisance beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Plaisance, 13% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 4.8% over 600, against a median of 8.2% in Quebec.
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 Plaisance, 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Plaisance, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Plaisance
Alerts for Plaisance come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Evacuation orders for Plaisance come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Plaisance’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plaisance | Low | $0.11 | 13% | None listed |
| Papineauville 2,332 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.11 | 13% | Yes |
| Thurso 3,439 · 10 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | None listed |
| Wendover 10,896 · 12 km | Low | $0.16 | 6.1% | None listed |
| Saint-André-Avellin 3,862 · 13 km | Low | $0.11 | 13% | Yes |
| Rockland 30,375 · 14 km | Low | $0.16 | 6.1% | Yes |
| Lochaber-Partie-Ouest 1,016 · 17 km | Low | $0.10 | 13% | Yes |
Plaisance’s low band tops its neighbours; Thurso is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Plaisance faces
Practical steps for Plaisance’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Plaisance sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Plaisance’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Plaisance, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Plaisance floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Plaisance
Is radon a problem in Plaisance?
13% of the 63 homes Health Canada tested around Plaisance topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Plaisance at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Plaisance’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 is Plaisance’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Plaisance D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Plaisance?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Plaisance $0.11 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Plaisance flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Plaisance (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).