Photo: Atilin · CC BY-SA 3.0Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.2% of area homes over the radon guideline
Fire has left almost no mark near Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.17 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle 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-Bernard-de-Lacolle: C−
Earthquake risk and radon make Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 21 km from Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s homes, none within 5 km.
The ring nearest Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle is the most wooded: 12% forest fuel within 5 km against 5.2% 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
Near-zero burning puts Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle with 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec, far below Mistissini 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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-Bernard-de-Lacolle
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle has no flood study on file; only 45% of towns in Quebec do, against 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s homes are at risk.
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-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s costliest hazard: $0.17 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 5.7 times the typical $0.030: Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s $0.17 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s $0.17 is close to the median in Quebec, $0.14; La Pocatière is highest 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 14% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle.
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 loss is to Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle: 8.2% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Monteregie health region: radon tests
At 8.2% over the guideline, the area around Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s area, at 8.2%, is close to the median in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit higher.
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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle; 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-Bernard-de-Lacolle 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-Bernard-de-Lacolle
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle | Low | $0.17 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Lacolle 2,806 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.17 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Cyprien-de-Napierville 1,786 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Patrice-de-Sherrington 1,996 · 10 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Hemmingford 2,206 · 11 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Napierville 4,187 · 13 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Noyan 1,576 · 14 km | Low | $0.17 | 8.2% | Yes |
The fire record around Saint-Cyprien-de-Napierville is a touch heavier than Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’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-Bernard-de-Lacolle faces
Practical steps for Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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-Bernard-de-Lacolle.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle
Does Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s buildings lose $0.17 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2015) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle?
The area’s survey found 8.2% of 110 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle.
How is Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).