Photo: Nicogag · CC BY-SA 3.0On hazards, Saint-Arsène comes out behind 94% of Canadian towns
Wildfire is rare near Saint-Arsène: 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.005% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.19 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is higher than usual: 14% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Saint-Arsène grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Arsène’s hazards
For Saint-Arsène, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Arsène 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-Arsène: D
Two inputs always count for Saint-Arsène, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Saint-Arsène: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saint-Arsène’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Saint-Arsène fire takes 0.005% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The 5 km ring around Saint-Arsène’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 5.6 km out.
Forest thickens with distance from Saint-Arsène: 22% of the land within 5 km, 49% 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
In the top quarter in Quebec: Saint-Arsène ranks 28th of 514 at 0.005% a year, with Mistissini first 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.
Saint-Arsène is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
No flood study is listed for Saint-Arsène
Flood studies whose area touches Saint-Arsène, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Saint-Arsène has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Saint-Arsène; 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Saint-Arsène’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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-Arsène: $0.19 per $1,000 of buildings 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-Arsène loses $0.19, 6.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.19, Saint-Arsène is above the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière has the most 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.
Saint-Arsène sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 12% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Saint-Arsène is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Saint-Arsène: 14% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Saint-Arsène’s survey area reads 14% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Saint-Arsène (14%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 1.8% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Saint-Arsène sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Saint-Arsène’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Bas-Saint-Laurent health region
Where to get warnings in Saint-Arsène
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Arsène; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Saint-Arsène come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Arsène
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Arsène | Low | $0.19 | 14% | None listed |
| Cacouna 1,888 · 6.1 km | Low | $0.21 | 14% | None listed |
| L'Isle-Verte 1,427 · 12 km | Low | $0.15 | 14% | None listed |
| Rivière-du-Loup 20,650 · 13 km | Low | $0.28 | 14% | None listed |
| Saint-Modeste 1,182 · 14 km | Low | $0.20 | 14% | None listed |
| Saint-Antonin 4,633 · 17 km | Low | $0.24 | 14% | Yes |
The fire record around Cacouna is a touch heavier than Saint-Arsène’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-Arsène faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Arsène 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. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Saint-Arsène is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Saint-Arsène’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Saint-Arsène.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Saint-Arsène.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Arsène
How is Saint-Arsène’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Saint-Arsène D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Saint-Arsène flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Saint-Arsène’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Saint-Arsène at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Saint-Arsène since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Arsène?
Around Saint-Arsène, 171 survey homes were tested and 14% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Arsène?
Expected earthquake damage in Saint-Arsène comes to $0.19 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).