Photo: SaguenayMaville · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Saguenay: 6 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
Little of the land around Saguenay has burned: 0.8% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.02% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.21 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 2.8% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Saguenay a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Saguenay’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saguenay: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saguenay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saguenay grades C+ for hazard risk
For Saguenay, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #102 of 507 in Quebec and #1,778 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 72 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Saguenay has burned: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.8% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saguenay’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Saguenay fire takes 0.02% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
There is forest near Saguenay’s homes (52% within 5 km) and more of it further out (66% 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
Mistissini burns fastest in Quebec at 0.31% a year; Saguenay, at 0.02%, ranks 14th of 513.
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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Saguenay reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
Flooding around Saguenay is mapped in 6 studies, the newest by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Saguenay, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Gouvernement du Québec and others have studied flooding in areas that include Saguenay: 6 studies, the latest from 2005.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ferland-Boileau | Gouvernement du Québec | 2005 | final |
| Baie | Gouvernement du Québec | 2001 | final |
| Baie-Ferland-Boilleau | Gouvernement du Québec | 2000 | final |
| Laterrière | Gouvernement du Québec | 2000 | final |
| Laterrière | Gouvernement du Québec | 1997 | final |
| Chicoutimi | Gouvernement du Québec | 1997 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Saguenay 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 Saguenay goes back to the 1990s and peaks in the 2000s, with 4 of its 6 studies.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Saguenay.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Saguenay.
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 Saguenay’s costliest hazard: $0.21 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Roughly 6.9 times the typical $0.030: Saguenay’s $0.21 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Saguenay’s $0.21 tops the median in Quebec, $0.14, though 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.
Saguenay is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 7.8% rank 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Saguenay’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).
2.8% of homes tested around Saguenay are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean health region: radon tests
Saguenay’s survey area reads 2.8% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Saguenay (2.8%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), yet 1.4% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Saguenay’s band, which holds 37%.
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 Saguenay as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Saguenay
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saguenay; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
For fires near Saguenay, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saguenay
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saguenay | Low | $0.21 | 2.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Fulgence 2,202 · 14 km | Low | $0.14 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Honoré 6,984 · 14 km | Low | $0.22 | 2.8% | None listed |
Saguenay’s low band tops its neighbours; Saint-Fulgence is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saguenay faces
Practical steps for Saguenay’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 Saguenay.
- 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 Saguenay’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Saguenay’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Saguenay takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saguenay
Is radon a problem in Saguenay?
The area’s survey found 2.8% of 72 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Saguenay.
Does Saguenay flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Saguenay; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Saguenay at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Saguenay’s low band (0.8% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Saguenay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saguenay’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saguenay?
About $0.21 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Saguenay.
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).