Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Vanier: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Vanier’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 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). Radon is about average around Vanier: 8.8% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Vanier grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Vanier’s hazards
For Vanier, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Vanier faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Vanier grades C− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Vanier’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 Vanier has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Vanier’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Vanier burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Vanier’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 17 km off.
Close to Vanier 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
Of the 513 towns in Quebec, 144 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Vanier among them; Mistissini leads at 0.31% 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.
Vanier shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
Gouvernement du Québec has mapped flooding for Vanier (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Vanier, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Gouvernement du Québec holds the flood mapping that covers Vanier (1991), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| CUQ | Gouvernement du Québec | 1991 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Vanier among them, below the 58% across Canada.
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 Vanier.
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 Vanier $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.
Roughly 4.6 times the typical $0.030: Vanier’s $0.14 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Vanier runs at $0.14 a year, near the $0.14 of the typical town in Quebec; 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.
20% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Vanier, 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Vanier.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of Québec
Radon about average around Vanier: 8.8% 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 Capitale-Nationale health region: radon tests
Vanier’s area, at 8.8%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Vanier, 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.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Vanier’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit 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.
Neighbouring homes in Vanier 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 Vanier
Alerts for Vanier 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 Vanier 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)
Hazards in the places around Vanier
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanier | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Sauveur 16,104 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Roch 8,381 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Lairet 15,251 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Vieux-Limoilou 14,347 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Sacrement 10,650 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Montcalm 13,572 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Vanier (low), with Saint-Sauveur next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Vanier faces
Practical steps for Vanier’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
- 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 Vanier.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Vanier’s included.
- 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 Vanier.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Vanier takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Vanier
Does Vanier flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Vanier; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Vanier?
About $0.14 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Vanier.
Is Vanier at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Vanier’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2022) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Vanier?
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 Vanier.
How is Vanier’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Vanier’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).