Photo: Judicieux · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Lairet: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.8% of tested homes
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Lairet: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.14 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Lairet a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Lairet’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lairet: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lairet faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Lairet grades C− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Lairet 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: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Lairet: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Lairet’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Lairet burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Fire has stayed at least 16 km from Lairet’s homes since 1986.
Close to Lairet there is little to burn (0.3% forest fuel within 5 km), but 22% of the land within 25 km is forest.
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
To three decimals the burn rate around Lairet is zero, as for 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec, while Mistissini reaches 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Lairet is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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 Lairet
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Lairet: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Lairet 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 Lairet has none.
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 Lairet 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 Lairet: $0.14 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.14 per $1,000, Lairet carries roughly 4.6 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Lairet ($0.14) 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 20% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Lairet.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Lairet’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Québec
Radon about average around Lairet: 8.8% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Capitale-Nationale health region
Near the middle for radon: Lairet’s area 8.8%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
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 Lairet had 2.5% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Lairet 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.
One home in Lairet 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 Lairet
Alerts for Lairet 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 Lairet to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Lairet’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lairet | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Vieux-Limoilou 14,347 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Rodrigue 12,018 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Maizerets 14,571 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Vanier 13,494 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Roch 8,381 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Jésuites 15,792 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Lairet has the most fire on record (low); Vieux-Limoilou follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lairet faces
What to do about the hazards Lairet 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
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Lairet until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Lairet’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Lairet’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Lairet without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lairet
Is radon a problem in Lairet?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.8% of 160 homes tested in Lairet’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Lairet’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lairet’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Lairet at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Lairet has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Lairet flood?
Nothing is listed for Lairet on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lairet?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Lairet’s buildings lose $0.14 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).