Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Vieux-Bourg’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.8% of area homes over the radon guideline
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Vieux-Bourg, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.14 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Vieux-Bourg a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Vieux-Bourg’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Vieux-Bourg: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Vieux-Bourg faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Vieux-Bourg grades C− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Vieux-Bourg 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 Vieux-Bourg: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Vieux-Bourg’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.000% burned a year, Vieux-Bourg is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Fire has stayed at least 11 km from Vieux-Bourg’s homes since 1986.
21% of the land within 25 km of Vieux-Bourg is forest fuel, yet only 1.8% within 5 km of its homes.
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
Mistissini has the highest burn rate in Quebec, 0.31% a year; around Vieux-Bourg, as around 144 of the 513 towns, it rounds to zero.
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 holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Vieux-Bourg sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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 Vieux-Bourg
Flood studies whose area touches Vieux-Bourg, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Vieux-Bourg 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 Vieux-Bourg 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 Vieux-Bourg 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Vieux-Bourg $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, Vieux-Bourg carries roughly 4.6 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Vieux-Bourg’s $0.14 is close to the median in Quebec, $0.14; La Pocatière is highest 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.
20% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Vieux-Bourg, 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Vieux-Bourg’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). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Québec)
8.8% of homes tested around Vieux-Bourg are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Vieux-Bourg, 8.8% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Vieux-Bourg’s area, at 8.8%, is close to the median in Quebec (8.2%); 2.5% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Vieux-Bourg 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Vieux-Bourg as anywhere, test to be sure.
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 Vieux-Bourg
Alerts for Vieux-Bourg 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 Vieux-Bourg 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 Vieux-Bourg
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vieux-Bourg | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Chutes-Montmorency 16,273 · 2.3 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Vieux-Moulin 15,935 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Michel 17,303 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Maizerets 14,571 · 4.1 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Sainte-Thérèse-de-Lisieux 17,558 · 4.7 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Bourg-Royal 14,430 · 5.0 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
The fire record around Bourg-Royal is a touch heavier than Vieux-Bourg’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Vieux-Bourg faces
What to do about the hazards Vieux-Bourg 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Vieux-Bourg’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Vieux-Bourg’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Vieux-Bourg sits in.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Vieux-Bourg floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Vieux-Bourg
How big is the earthquake risk in Vieux-Bourg?
About $0.14 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Vieux-Bourg.
Does Vieux-Bourg flood?
Nothing is listed for Vieux-Bourg on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Vieux-Bourg at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Vieux-Bourg has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Vieux-Bourg’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Vieux-Bourg C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Vieux-Bourg?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.8% of 160 homes tested in Vieux-Bourg’s 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).