Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Princeville’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 0% of area homes over the radon guideline
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Princeville, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.11 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Princeville grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Princeville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Princeville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Princeville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Princeville grades B+ for hazard risk
For Princeville, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #25 of 507 in Quebec and #904 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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 Princeville has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Princeville’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Princeville burns at 0.001% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 8.0 km from Princeville’s homes since 1986.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Princeville: 30% within 5 km and 30% 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
Princeville 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Princeville 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.
No flood study is listed for Princeville
Flood studies whose area touches Princeville, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Princeville on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Princeville has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Princeville.
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 Princeville’s costliest hazard: $0.11 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Roughly 3.6 times the typical $0.030: Princeville’s $0.11 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Quebec: Princeville’s $0.11 against a median of $0.14; La Pocatière has $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.
25% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Princeville, 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).
The model counts damage to Princeville’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).
Radon runs low around Princeville: 0% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Mauricie et Centre-du-Quebec health region: radon tests
Fewer homes than usual test high around Princeville: 0% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Princeville than in most towns in Quebec: 0% against 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Princeville shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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 Princeville 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 Princeville
Alerts for Princeville 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 Princeville to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Princeville
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princeville | Low | $0.11 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Norbert-d'Arthabaska 1,291 · 8.4 km | Low | $0.059 | 0% | None listed |
| Plessisville 6,774 · 10 km | Low | $0.069 | 0% | Yes |
| Plessisville 2,718 · 13 km | Low | $0.086 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Louis-de-Blandford 1,066 · 14 km | Low | $0.13 | 0% | None listed |
| Victoriaville 49,863 · 14 km | Low | $0.11 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Christophe-d'Arthabaska 3,307 · 17 km | Low | $0.054 | 0% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Princeville has the most fire on record (low); Saint-Louis-de-Blandford follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Princeville faces
Practical steps for Princeville’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
- 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 Princeville.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Princeville’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Princeville is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Princeville’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Princeville
Is radon a problem in Princeville?
The area’s survey found 0% of 58 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Princeville.
Does Princeville flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Princeville, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Princeville?
Expected earthquake damage in Princeville comes to $0.11 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Princeville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Princeville grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Princeville at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Princeville’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2022) is short of the level that counts.
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).