Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 8.8%: how Portneuf stands on hazards
Burn scars are few around Portneuf, with 0% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.001% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.11 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Portneuf a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Portneuf’s hazards
For Portneuf, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Portneuf faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Portneuf grades C for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Portneuf with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #248 of 507 in Quebec and #2,200 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Portneuf has burned: 0.4% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Portneuf’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.001% of the land a year, Portneuf’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The ring nearest Portneuf is the most wooded: 41% forest fuel within 5 km against 33% 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
Portneuf 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.
Portneuf is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
No flood study is listed for Portneuf
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Portneuf: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Portneuf, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Portneuf is not among them.
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 Portneuf 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.”
Shaking is Portneuf’s costliest hazard: $0.11 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.11 per $1,000, Portneuf carries roughly 3.7 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Quebec: Portneuf’s $0.11 sits by the median of $0.14, while La Pocatière reaches $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.
24% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Portneuf, 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 Portneuf 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 Portneuf: 8.8% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Portneuf’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.8% over the guideline, against 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Portneuf alone, so this card uses the figure for the Capitale-Nationale health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ordinary for towns in Quebec at 8.8% over 200 Bq/m³ (8.2% is the median), the area around Portneuf had 2.5% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Portneuf 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.
A low area share in Portneuf doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Portneuf
Alerts for Portneuf 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 Portneuf 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)
Hazards in the places around Portneuf
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portneuf | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Basile 2,918 · 7.2 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Cap-Santé 3,885 · 7.5 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Deschambault-Grondines 2,251 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Donnacona 7,785 · 13 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Marc-des-Carrières 2,961 · 13 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Édouard-de-Lotbinière 1,295 · 15 km | Low | $0.15 | 13% | None listed |
Saint-Basile (low) has the heaviest fire record of Portneuf’s neighbours, and Portneuf (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Portneuf faces
What to do about the hazards Portneuf 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 Portneuf’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Portneuf 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 Portneuf.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Portneuf, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Portneuf
Is Portneuf at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Portneuf has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Portneuf’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Portneuf grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Portneuf flood?
Nothing is listed for Portneuf on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Portneuf?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Portneuf’s buildings lose $0.11 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Portneuf?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.8% of 160 homes tested in Portneuf’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).