![Couvent de Saint-Alban . - [1930]](https://images.townratings.com/ca/town_images/52434097/f52ea2553f88b099ecd7.jpg)
Photo: Unknown Unknown · Public domainWildfire low, radon 8.8%: how Saint-Alban stands on hazards
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Saint-Alban, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.11 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Saint-Alban grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Alban’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Alban: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Alban faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Alban grades C for hazard risk
The grade weighs Saint-Alban’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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 Saint-Alban: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Saint-Alban’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps Saint-Alban in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
The 5 km ring around Saint-Alban’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 6.8 km out.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Saint-Alban: 29% within 5 km, 33% 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 514
Saint-Alban sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 514 towns, at 0.001% a year, well behind Mistissini (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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Saint-Alban among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Saint-Alban
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Alban: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Saint-Alban, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Saint-Alban; in Quebec, 45% of towns have one, below 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-Alban 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.”
Shaking is Saint-Alban’s costliest hazard: $0.11 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.11 per $1,000, Saint-Alban carries roughly 3.5 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Saint-Alban’s $0.11 sits under the median in Quebec, $0.14, and well under 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.
25% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Saint-Alban, 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 Saint-Alban’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).
Some radon around Saint-Alban: 8.8% of area homes 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-Alban were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%. Saint-Alban shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Capitale-Nationale health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Saint-Alban, 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.
Saint-Alban 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Saint-Alban only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Alban
Alerts for Saint-Alban 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-Alban to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Saint-Alban’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Alban | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Marc-des-Carrières 2,961 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Casimir 1,506 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Ubalde 1,565 · 11 km | Low | $0.078 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Deschambault-Grondines 2,251 · 16 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Portneuf 3,410 · 17 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | None listed |
Saint-Marc-des-Carrières (low) has the heaviest fire record of Saint-Alban’s neighbours, and Saint-Alban (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Alban faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Alban 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. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Saint-Alban’s.
- 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 Saint-Alban floods.
- 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 Saint-Alban sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Saint-Alban’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Alban
Is Saint-Alban at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Alban has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Saint-Alban flood?
Nothing is listed for Saint-Alban on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Alban?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Alban $0.11 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Alban?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.8% of 160 homes tested in Saint-Alban’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Saint-Alban’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Saint-Alban C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).