Photo: Photographe inconnu - Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Rimouski · Public domainHazard risk in Price is higher than in 90% of Canadian towns
For Price, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% 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. More homes than usual carry radon here, 14% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Price a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Price’s hazards
For Price, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Price faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Price: D
The grade weighs Price’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Price: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Price’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Price burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The nearer ring around Price is less wooded (25% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (54%).
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
Among the 514 towns in Quebec, Mistissini burns fastest (0.31% a year); Price is with the 145 near zero.
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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Price, burning rounds to zero.
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 Price
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Price: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Price; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Price is not among them.
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 Price 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 Price’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, Price carries roughly 3.6 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.11, Price is below the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière is highest at $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: 25% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Price.
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 Price 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).
Test for radon in Price: 14% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 14% over the guideline, the area around Price beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Price than in most towns in Quebec: 14% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 1.8% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Price sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% above.
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 Price 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). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Bas-Saint-Laurent health region
Where to get warnings in Price
Alerts for Price 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 Price 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 Price’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Low | $0.11 | 14% | None listed |
| Mont-Joli 6,492 · 5.6 km | Low | $0.093 | 14% | None listed |
| Sainte-Angèle-de-Mérici 1,005 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.077 | 14% | None listed |
| Sainte-Luce 2,808 · 18 km | Low | $0.092 | 14% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Price (low); Mont-Joli comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Price faces
What to do about the hazards Price 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. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Price’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Price.
- 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 Price.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Price is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Price
How big is the earthquake risk in Price?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Price’s buildings lose $0.11 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Price at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Price: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How is Price’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Price’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Price flood?
Nothing is listed for Price on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Price?
In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of 171 homes tested in Price’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).