Photo: Roncanada · CC BY 4.0Saint-Charles-Borromée is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by MRC Joliette
Little of the land around Saint-Charles-Borromée has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.16 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. Saint-Charles-Borromée grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Charles-Borromée’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Charles-Borromée: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Charles-Borromée faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Charles-Borromée grades B− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Saint-Charles-Borromée, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #94 of 507 in Quebec and #1,712 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. 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-Charles-Borromée: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saint-Charles-Borromée’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Saint-Charles-Borromée burns at 0.001% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
14% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Charles-Borromée is forest fuel, yet only 4.2% within 5 km of its homes.
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
At 0.001% a year, Saint-Charles-Borromée ranks 136th of the 513 towns in Quebec; 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.
Saint-Charles-Borromée 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.
2 flood studies cover Saint-Charles-Borromée, the newest from MRC Joliette
Flood studies whose area touches Saint-Charles-Borromée, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Saint-Charles-Borromée, the newest MRC Joliette’s from 2016, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joliette-Notre-Dame-des-Prairies-Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes-St-Paul-St-Thomas-St-Charles-Borromée | MRC Joliette | 2016 | final |
| St-Mélanie-St-Charles-Borromée-Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes-St-Ambroise-de-Kildare | MRC Joliette | 2016 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint-Charles-Borromée 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Saint-Charles-Borromée 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.
High seismic risk in Saint-Charles-Borromée: $0.16 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-Charles-Borromée loses $0.16, 5.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Saint-Charles-Borromée’s $0.16 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 15% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Saint-Charles-Borromée.
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-Charles-Borromée’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 runs low around Saint-Charles-Borromée: 3.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Lanaudiere health region
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Saint-Charles-Borromée’s area, at 3.9%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Saint-Charles-Borromée than in most towns in Quebec: 3.9% against 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Saint-Charles-Borromée is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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-Charles-Borromée only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Charles-Borromée
Alerts for Saint-Charles-Borromée 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-Charles-Borromée 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-Charles-Borromée
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Charles-Borromée | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Notre-Dame-des-Prairies 9,622 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Joliette 22,408 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.17 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes 3,328 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.13 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare 4,615 · 6.3 km | Low | $0.12 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Paul 7,208 · 6.5 km | Low | $0.17 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Crabtree 4,237 · 8.9 km | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Notre-Dame-des-Prairies (low), still no more than Saint-Charles-Borromée (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Charles-Borromée faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Charles-Borromée 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
- 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-Charles-Borromée’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Saint-Charles-Borromée’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Saint-Charles-Borromée.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Saint-Charles-Borromée takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Charles-Borromée
How is Saint-Charles-Borromée’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Saint-Charles-Borromée B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Saint-Charles-Borromée at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Saint-Charles-Borromée since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Charles-Borromée?
About $0.16 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Saint-Charles-Borromée.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Charles-Borromée?
Around Saint-Charles-Borromée, 77 survey homes were tested and 3.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Saint-Charles-Borromée flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Saint-Charles-Borromée; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in 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).