Photo: Pierre-Olivier Fortin · CC BY-SA 3.0Loretteville is on Canada’s flood inventory: 3 listed, led by Ville de Québec
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Loretteville, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.14 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 8.8% of homes tested in Loretteville’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Loretteville grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Loretteville’s hazards
For Loretteville, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Loretteville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Loretteville grades C− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Loretteville’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Loretteville has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Loretteville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.001% of the land a year, Loretteville’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Loretteville’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 9.3 km out.
Forest thickens with distance from Loretteville: 19% of the land within 5 km, 26% 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
In the upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Loretteville ranks 136th of 513, at 0.001% a year.
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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Loretteville stays low, with 92%.
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.
Loretteville is on the flood map inventory: 3 studies, latest by Ville de Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Loretteville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 3 studies covering Loretteville is Ville de Québec’s, from 2015; open its map to see the zones.
| 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
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Loretteville is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Mapping around Loretteville goes back to the 1990s and peaks in the 2010s, with 2 of its 3 studies.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Loretteville.
Flood mapping is shown for Loretteville 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Shaking is Loretteville’s costliest hazard: $0.14 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 4.6 times the typical $0.030: Loretteville’s $0.14 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Loretteville ($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 Loretteville.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Loretteville.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Québec
Radon about average around Loretteville: 8.8% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Capitale-Nationale health region
Near the middle for radon: Loretteville’s area 8.8%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
2.5% of tests around Loretteville passed 600 Bq/m³; over 200, its 8.8% matches the median in Quebec, 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Loretteville, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank 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.
Neighbouring homes in Loretteville can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Loretteville
Alerts for Loretteville 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Loretteville are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Loretteville’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loretteville | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Wendake 2,234 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Des Châtels 14,836 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Émile 16,893 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Neufchatel Est—Lebourgneuf 37,164 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Val-Bélair 30,003 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Lac-Saint-Charles 9,985 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
Nowhere around Loretteville burns more: Wendake, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Loretteville faces
Practical steps for Loretteville’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?
- 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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Loretteville is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Loretteville’s included.
- 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 Loretteville.
- 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 Loretteville.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Loretteville
How big is the earthquake risk in Loretteville?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Loretteville’s buildings lose $0.14 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Loretteville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Loretteville C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Loretteville at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Loretteville’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2022) is short of the level that counts.
Does Loretteville flood?
There is flood mapping for Loretteville on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Loretteville?
The area’s survey found 8.8% of 160 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Loretteville.
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).