Photo: Judicieux · CC BY-SA 4.0Lac-Saint-Charles is on Canada’s flood inventory: 3 listed, led by Ville de Québec
Burn scars are few around Lac-Saint-Charles, 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 $0.14 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. About as many homes carry radon around Lac-Saint-Charles as elsewhere, 8.8% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Lac-Saint-Charles a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Lac-Saint-Charles’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lac-Saint-Charles: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lac-Saint-Charles faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Lac-Saint-Charles grades C− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Lac-Saint-Charles with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #294 of 507 in Quebec and #2,256 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Lac-Saint-Charles: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lac-Saint-Charles’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.001% of the land near Lac-Saint-Charles burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Lac-Saint-Charles: 30% within 5 km, 29% 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
Lac-Saint-Charles 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Lac-Saint-Charles among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
3 flood studies cover Lac-Saint-Charles, the newest from Ville de Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Lac-Saint-Charles, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Lac-Saint-Charles the inventory points to 3 studies, most recently Ville de Québec’s in 2015.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ville-de-Québec | Ville de Québec | 2015 | final |
| Ville-de-Québec-Huronne-Wandat | Ville de Québec | 2015 | final |
| CUQ | Gouvernement du Québec | 1991 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Lac-Saint-Charles apart in Quebec, where 45% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2010s brought the most flood studies for Lac-Saint-Charles (2 of 3), the first dating from the 1990s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Lac-Saint-Charles.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Lac-Saint-Charles.
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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Lac-Saint-Charles $0.14 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.14 per $1,000, Lac-Saint-Charles carries roughly 4.6 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Lac-Saint-Charles at $0.14 beside a median in Quebec of $0.14, with La Pocatière on top 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: 20% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Lac-Saint-Charles.
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 loss is to Lac-Saint-Charles’ buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: the city of Québec
8.8% of homes tested around Lac-Saint-Charles are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Lac-Saint-Charles’ area 8.8%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Capitale-Nationale health region as a whole, not for Lac-Saint-Charles alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Lac-Saint-Charles, 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Lac-Saint-Charles’ 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
One home in Lac-Saint-Charles can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Lac-Saint-Charles
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Lac-Saint-Charles; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Lac-Saint-Charles come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Lac-Saint-Charles’ neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lac-Saint-Charles | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Wendake 2,234 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Émile 16,893 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Notre-Dame-des-Laurentides 16,222 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Loretteville 15,653 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Val-Bélair 30,003 · 6.6 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Des Châtels 14,836 · 7.0 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
Wendake (low) has the heaviest fire record of Lac-Saint-Charles’ neighbours, and Lac-Saint-Charles (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lac-Saint-Charles faces
What to do about the hazards Lac-Saint-Charles 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Lac-Saint-Charles.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Lac-Saint-Charles takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Lac-Saint-Charles’ figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Lac-Saint-Charles’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lac-Saint-Charles
How big is the earthquake risk in Lac-Saint-Charles?
Expected earthquake damage in Lac-Saint-Charles comes to $0.14 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Lac-Saint-Charles at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Lac-Saint-Charles has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Lac-Saint-Charles flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Lac-Saint-Charles; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Lac-Saint-Charles’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Lac-Saint-Charles C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Lac-Saint-Charles?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.8% of 160 homes tested in Lac-Saint-Charles’ 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).