Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Saint-Anselme is higher than in 90% of Canadian towns
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Saint-Anselme’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.13 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Saint-Anselme a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Saint-Anselme’s hazards
For Saint-Anselme, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Anselme faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Saint-Anselme: D
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Saint-Anselme with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #473 of 507 in Quebec and #2,477 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-Anselme has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saint-Anselme’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Saint-Anselme fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Saint-Anselme’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 12 km away.
There is forest near Saint-Anselme’s homes (7.2% within 5 km) and more of it further out (26% 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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Saint-Anselme, as for 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops the list 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Saint-Anselme is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
Gouvernement du Québec has mapped flooding for Saint-Anselme (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Saint-Anselme, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Gouvernement du Québec holds the flood mapping that covers Saint-Anselme (2012), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| St-Anselme | Gouvernement du Québec | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Saint-Anselme apart in Quebec, where 45% of towns have one (Canada: 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-Anselme 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Saint-Anselme $0.13 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.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Saint-Anselme loses $0.13, 4.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Saint-Anselme runs at $0.13 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.
Saint-Anselme sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 22% are 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Saint-Anselme.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
13% of homes tested around Saint-Anselme are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Saint-Anselme: 13% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Saint-Anselme (13%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 0.6% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Saint-Anselme among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
Whatever Saint-Anselme’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region
Where to get warnings in Saint-Anselme
Alerts for Saint-Anselme 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. |
Evacuation orders for Saint-Anselme come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Anselme
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Anselme | Low | $0.13 | 13% | Yes |
| Sainte-Hénédine 1,550 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.078 | 13% | None listed |
| Sainte-Claire 3,724 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.080 | 13% | Yes |
| Saint-Henri 6,048 · 11 km | Low | $0.14 | 13% | Yes |
| Saint-Gervais 2,235 · 11 km | Low | $0.090 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Isidore 3,550 · 12 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Lazare-de-Bellechasse 1,330 · 13 km | Low | $0.092 | 13% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Sainte-Hénédine (low), still no more than Saint-Anselme (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Anselme faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Anselme 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?
- 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. 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-Anselme 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-Anselme sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Saint-Anselme, 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-Anselme’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Anselme
How is Saint-Anselme’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Anselme grades D for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Anselme?
Around Saint-Anselme, 175 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Saint-Anselme at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Saint-Anselme since 1986 (last in 2015); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Anselme?
About $0.13 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Saint-Anselme.
Does Saint-Anselme flood?
Saint-Anselme’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).