![Académie Saint-Barthélemy du comté de Berthier / O. Allard . - [1920]](https://images.townratings.com/ca/town_images/52452055/5226f01c91fd6d19a91d.jpg)
Photo: O. Allard · Public domainSaint-Barthélemy is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Saint-Barthélemy’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.001% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.10 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is lower than usual: 3.9% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Saint-Barthélemy a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Saint-Barthélemy’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Barthélemy: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Barthélemy 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-Barthélemy: B
For Saint-Barthélemy, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 77 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Saint-Barthélemy: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Saint-Barthélemy’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Saint-Barthélemy burns at 0.001% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Saint-Barthélemy’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 10 km off.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Saint-Barthélemy: 18% within 5 km, 16% 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-Barthélemy 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.
Saint-Barthélemy 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.
A flood study covers Saint-Barthélemy, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Barthélemy: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Saint-Barthélemy the inventory points to Gouvernement du Québec’s 1996 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varennes-Grondines | Gouvernement du Québec | 1996 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint-Barthélemy is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Saint-Barthélemy to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
High seismic risk in Saint-Barthélemy: $0.10 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Saint-Barthélemy’s $0.10 is about 3.4 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Saint-Barthélemy’s $0.10 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 25% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Saint-Barthélemy.
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).
The model counts damage to Saint-Barthélemy’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Saint-Barthélemy: 3.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 3.9% over the guideline, the area around Saint-Barthélemy is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Saint-Barthélemy doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Lanaudiere health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Saint-Barthélemy (3.9%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Saint-Barthélemy with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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-Barthélemy only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Barthélemy
Alerts for Saint-Barthélemy 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-Barthélemy 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)
How Saint-Barthélemy’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-Barthélemy | Low | $0.10 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Cuthbert 1,865 · 9.0 km | Low | $0.12 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Maskinongé 2,457 · 10 km | Low | $0.13 | 0% | Yes |
| Sainte-Ursule 1,363 · 13 km | Low | $0.11 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Norbert 1,143 · 13 km | Low | $0.11 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Berthierville 4,591 · 13 km | Low | $0.14 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Sainte-Geneviève-de-Berthier 2,298 · 15 km | Low | $0.14 | 3.9% | Yes |
Saint-Cuthbert (low) has the heaviest fire record of Saint-Barthélemy’s neighbours, and Saint-Barthélemy (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Barthélemy faces
Practical steps for Saint-Barthélemy’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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Saint-Barthélemy’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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-Barthélemy sits in.
- 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-Barthélemy floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Saint-Barthélemy’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Barthélemy
Does Saint-Barthélemy flood?
Saint-Barthélemy’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Saint-Barthélemy’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Barthélemy grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Barthélemy?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Saint-Barthélemy’s buildings lose $0.10 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Saint-Barthélemy at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Saint-Barthélemy’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2022), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Barthélemy?
3.9% of the 77 homes Health Canada tested around Saint-Barthélemy topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).