Photo: Harfang · CC BY-SA 3.0Pont-Rouge’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.8% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire isn’t Pont-Rouge’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.15 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Pont-Rouge grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Pont-Rouge’s hazards
For Pont-Rouge, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Pont-Rouge faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Pont-Rouge grades C− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Pont-Rouge’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: #344 of 507 in Quebec and #2,311 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Pont-Rouge has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Pont-Rouge’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Pont-Rouge burns at 0.001% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Pont-Rouge’s homes came within 6.4 km, never inside 5 km.
More forest grows near Pont-Rouge’s homes (41% within 5 km) than across 25 km (30%).
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
In the upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Pont-Rouge ranks 136th of 513, 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Pont-Rouge reads low, with 92% of them; only 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 Pont-Rouge
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Pont-Rouge: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Pont-Rouge, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Pont-Rouge.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Pont-Rouge floods.
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 Pont-Rouge: $0.15 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; Pont-Rouge loses $0.15, 4.9 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Pont-Rouge ($0.15) 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.
20% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Pont-Rouge, which places it in the upper third.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Pont-Rouge is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Pont-Rouge: 8.8% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Capitale-Nationale health region: radon tests
At 8.8% over the guideline, the area around Pont-Rouge is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Pont-Rouge, 8.8% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 2.5% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Pont-Rouge is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
Whatever Pont-Rouge’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Pont-Rouge
Alerts for Pont-Rouge 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Pont-Rouge to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Pont-Rouge’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pont-Rouge | Low | $0.15 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Donnacona 7,785 · 8.9 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Basile 2,918 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Neuville 4,579 · 10 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Cap-Santé 3,885 · 11 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier 9,830 · 12 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly 1,747 · 15 km | Low | $0.14 | 13% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Pont-Rouge has the most fire on record (low); Donnacona follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Pont-Rouge faces
What to do about the hazards Pont-Rouge 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Pont-Rouge’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Pont-Rouge, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Pont-Rouge sits in.
- 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 Pont-Rouge floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pont-Rouge
Does Pont-Rouge flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Pont-Rouge’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Pont-Rouge?
Around Pont-Rouge, 160 survey homes were tested and 8.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Pont-Rouge’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Pont-Rouge grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pont-Rouge?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Pont-Rouge’s buildings lose $0.15 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Pont-Rouge at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Pont-Rouge since 1986 (last in 1989); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).