Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Saint-Colomban: 1 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Fire seldom reaches Saint-Colomban: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.11 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). More homes than usual carry radon here, 10% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Saint-Colomban grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Colomban’s hazards
For Saint-Colomban, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Colomban 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-Colomban: C−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Saint-Colomban with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #351 of 507 in Quebec and #2,319 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 78 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.
Few fires near Saint-Colomban: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Saint-Colomban’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Saint-Colomban’s 0.001% is in the low band.
More forest grows near Saint-Colomban’s homes (26% within 5 km) than across 25 km (16%).
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
Saint-Colomban burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 513 towns in Quebec; the leader, Mistissini, reaches 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.
Some fire is mapped around Saint-Colomban, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
Saint-Colomban is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Colomban: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Gouvernement du Québec holds the flood mapping that covers Saint-Colomban (1992), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lachute-St-Jérôme | Gouvernement du Québec | 1992 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Saint-Colomban among them, below the 58% across Canada.
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-Colomban 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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Saint-Colomban $0.11 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.11 per $1,000, Saint-Colomban carries roughly 3.7 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Quebec: Saint-Colomban’s $0.11 sits by the median of $0.14, while 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 24% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Saint-Colomban.
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).
For Saint-Colomban the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
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-Colomban: 10% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Laurentides health region
A higher share than most: 10% of tested homes around Saint-Colomban, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Saint-Colomban, 10% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.3% over 600, against a median of 8.2% in Quebec.
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-Colomban 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Saint-Colomban, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Saint-Colomban
Alerts for Saint-Colomban 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-Colomban 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)
How Saint-Colomban’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-Colomban | Low | $0.11 | 10% | Yes |
| Saint-Jérôme 85,160 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.15 | 10% | Yes |
| Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs 4,080 · 13 km | Low | $0.10 | 10% | None listed |
| Gore 2,756 · 13 km | Low | $0.097 | 10% | None listed |
| Prévost 14,275 · 13 km | Low | $0.088 | 10% | Yes |
| Mille-Isles 1,886 · 14 km | Low | $0.10 | 10% | None listed |
| Mirabel 68,471 · 15 km | Low | $0.16 | 10% | Yes |
Gore burns a little more than Saint-Colomban, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Colomban faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Colomban 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
- 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-Colomban.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Saint-Colomban is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Saint-Colomban, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Saint-Colomban’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Colomban
Is Saint-Colomban at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Colomban has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Saint-Colomban flood?
There is flood mapping for Saint-Colomban on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Colomban?
In Health Canada’s survey, 10% of 78 homes tested in Saint-Colomban’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Saint-Colomban’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Colomban’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Colomban?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Saint-Colomban’s buildings lose $0.11 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).