Photo: DomLemLali · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Saint-Alexandre: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.2% of tested homes
Wildfire barely registers for Saint-Alexandre, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.16 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Saint-Alexandre grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Alexandre’s hazards
For Saint-Alexandre, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Alexandre faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Alexandre grades C for hazard risk
The grade weighs Saint-Alexandre’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #276 of 507 in Quebec and #2,229 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Saint-Alexandre has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Saint-Alexandre’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Saint-Alexandre burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Saint-Alexandre’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 12 km off.
Around Saint-Alexandre the forest is thin or far off: 0.2% of the land within 5 km and 2.9% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Little or nothing burns around Saint-Alexandre in a typical year; 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec share that, and 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Saint-Alexandre is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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-Alexandre
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Alexandre: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Saint-Alexandre on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Saint-Alexandre has none.
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 Saint-Alexandre.
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.”
High seismic risk in Saint-Alexandre: $0.16 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.16 per $1,000, Saint-Alexandre carries roughly 5.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Saint-Alexandre at $0.16 beside a median in Quebec of $0.14, with La Pocatière on top 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 15% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Saint-Alexandre.
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).
For Saint-Alexandre the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
8.2% of homes tested around Saint-Alexandre are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Monteregie health region
8.2% of tested homes around Saint-Alexandre were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Saint-Alexandre’s area has 8.2%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Saint-Alexandre 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Saint-Alexandre’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Saint-Alexandre
Alerts for Saint-Alexandre 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 Saint-Alexandre 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 Saint-Alexandre
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Alexandre | Low | $0.16 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Sainte-Anne-de-Sabrevois 2,307 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.16 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Sainte-Sabine 1,123 · 8.9 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Sainte-Brigide-d'Iberville 1,540 · 10 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Henryville 1,664 · 11 km | Low | $0.17 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Mont-Saint-Grégoire 3,158 · 12 km | Low | $0.16 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Farnham 11,315 · 13 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.2% | Yes |
The fire record around Sainte-Brigide-d'Iberville is a touch heavier than Saint-Alexandre’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 Saint-Alexandre faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Alexandre 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
- 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-Alexandre sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Saint-Alexandre, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Saint-Alexandre’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’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-Alexandre floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Alexandre
How is Saint-Alexandre’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Alexandre grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Saint-Alexandre at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Alexandre has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Alexandre?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Alexandre $0.16 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Saint-Alexandre flood?
Nothing is listed for Saint-Alexandre on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Alexandre?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Saint-Alexandre’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).