Photo: Cephas · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Saint-Émile: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Ville de Québec
Fire has left almost no mark near Saint-Émile: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% 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). Radon around Saint-Émile is ordinary for Canada: 8.8% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Saint-Émile a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Saint-Émile’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Émile: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Émile faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Saint-Émile: C−
Earthquake risk and radon make Saint-Émile’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: 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.
Little of the land around Saint-Émile has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Saint-Émile’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.001% of the land near Saint-Émile burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Fire has stayed at least 8.6 km from Saint-Émile’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel covers 16% of the land close to Saint-Émile and 25% across 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
At 0.001% a year, Saint-Émile ranks 136th of the 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini leads at 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Saint-Émile 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.
A flood study covers Saint-Émile, from Ville de Québec: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Émile: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Ville de Québec studied flooding in an area that includes Saint-Émile (2015); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ville-de-Québec-Huronne-Wandat | Ville de Québec | 2015 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint-Émile is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
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 Saint-Émile 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Shaking is Saint-Émile’s costliest hazard: $0.14 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Saint-Émile’s $0.14 is about 4.6 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Québec, Saint-Émile included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Quebec: Saint-Émile’s $0.14 against $0.14; La Pocatière reaches $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.
Saint-Émile sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 20% are higher.
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 Saint-Émile’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 about average around Saint-Émile: 8.8% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
8.8% of tested homes around Saint-Émile were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Saint-Émile, 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.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Saint-Émile, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are higher.
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.
The survey sampled homes around Saint-Émile; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Capitale-Nationale health region
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Émile
Alerts for Saint-Émile 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 Saint-Émile 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 Saint-Émile
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Émile | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Wendake 2,234 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Loretteville 15,653 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Orsainville 14,751 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Neufchatel Est—Lebourgneuf 37,164 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Notre-Dame-des-Laurentides 16,222 · 4.1 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Lac-Saint-Charles 9,985 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Saint-Émile has the most fire on record (low); Wendake follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Émile faces
Practical steps for Saint-Émile’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. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Saint-Émile until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Saint-Émile’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Saint-Émile’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Saint-Émile without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Émile
How is Saint-Émile’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Émile’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Saint-Émile flood?
A flood study covers Saint-Émile on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Saint-Émile at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Saint-Émile’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2022), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Émile?
8.8% of the 160 homes Health Canada tested around Saint-Émile topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Émile?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Émile $0.14 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).