Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Saint-Bonaventure: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 0% of tested homes
Burn scars are few around Saint-Bonaventure, with 0% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.13 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Saint-Bonaventure a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Saint-Bonaventure’s hazards
For Saint-Bonaventure, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Bonaventure 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-Bonaventure: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Saint-Bonaventure with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 58 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Saint-Bonaventure: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.1% within 5 km
Past fire around Saint-Bonaventure’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Saint-Bonaventure burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel is denser close to Saint-Bonaventure (11% within 5 km) than further out (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
Little or nothing burns around Saint-Bonaventure in a typical year; 145 of the 514 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Saint-Bonaventure 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.
No flood study is listed for Saint-Bonaventure
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Bonaventure: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Nationally, Saint-Bonaventure has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Saint-Bonaventure; 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 studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Saint-Bonaventure.
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-Bonaventure’s costliest hazard: $0.13 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.13 per $1,000, Saint-Bonaventure carries roughly 4.3 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Quebec: Saint-Bonaventure’s $0.13 against $0.14; La Pocatière reaches $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-Bonaventure 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Saint-Bonaventure 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).
Radon runs low around Saint-Bonaventure: 0% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Saint-Bonaventure’s area has fewer, 0%. Saint-Bonaventure doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Mauricie et Centre-du-Quebec health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Saint-Bonaventure (0%) 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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Saint-Bonaventure; 63% 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.
Whatever Saint-Bonaventure’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).
Where to get warnings in Saint-Bonaventure
Alerts for Saint-Bonaventure 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Saint-Bonaventure to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Saint-Bonaventure’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-Bonaventure | Low | $0.13 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Majorique-de-Grantham 1,373 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.13 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Guillaume 1,489 · 9.4 km | Low | $0.14 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Germain-de-Grantham 5,054 · 15 km | Low | $0.11 | 0% | None listed |
| Pierreville 2,154 · 17 km | Low | $0.14 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-François-du-Lac 1,927 · 17 km | Low | $0.12 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Eugène 1,180 · 17 km | Low | $0.12 | 0% | None listed |
The fire record around Pierreville is a touch heavier than Saint-Bonaventure’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-Bonaventure faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Bonaventure 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Saint-Bonaventure’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Saint-Bonaventure 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-Bonaventure.
- 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-Bonaventure.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Bonaventure
Does Saint-Bonaventure flood?
Nothing is listed for Saint-Bonaventure on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Bonaventure?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Saint-Bonaventure’s buildings lose $0.13 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Saint-Bonaventure at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Bonaventure has burned since 1986, the last in 2015, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Bonaventure?
In Health Canada’s survey, 0% of 58 homes tested in Saint-Bonaventure’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Saint-Bonaventure’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Bonaventure’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).