Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainSaint-Damien is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
Fire seldom reaches Saint-Damien: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.002% a year). NRCan expects $0.051 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Saint-Damien, near the typical $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 3.9% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Saint-Damien grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Saint-Damien’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Damien: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Damien faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Damien grades B+ for hazard risk
For Saint-Damien, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #38 of 507 in Quebec and #1,088 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 77 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Saint-Damien: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.4% within 5 km
Past fire around Saint-Damien’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.002% of the land around Saint-Damien each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
About as much forest grows next to Saint-Damien’s homes (46% within 5 km) as across 25 km (48%).
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
The land around Saint-Damien burns at 0.002% a year, the 35th highest rate of 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops it 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Saint-Damien reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
Flooding around Saint-Damien is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Damien: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Gouvernement du Québec and others have studied flooding in areas that include Saint-Damien: 2 studies, the latest from 2006.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| St-Damien-St-Jean-de-Matha-St-Émélie-de-l'Énergie | Gouvernement du Québec | 2006 | final |
| Mandeville | Gouvernement du Québec | 2005 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint-Damien 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Saint-Damien’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Ordinary seismic risk in Saint-Damien: $0.051 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Saint-Damien, $0.051 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Saint-Damien, at $0.051, is below the median of $0.14.
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 30% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Saint-Damien.
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-Damien’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).
Radon runs low around Saint-Damien: 3.9% of tested 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-Damien is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Quebec is 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; around Saint-Damien it is 3.9%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Saint-Damien’s band, which holds 37%.
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 survey sampled homes around Saint-Damien; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Lanaudiere health region
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Damien
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Damien; 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. |
For fires near Saint-Damien, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Damien
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Damien | Low | $0.051 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Sainte-Émélie-de-l'Énergie 1,856 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.048 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Jean-de-Matha 5,415 · 11 km | Low | $0.068 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Gabriel 3,091 · 13 km | Low | $0.088 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon 2,916 · 15 km | Low | $0.074 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Mandeville 2,511 · 18 km | Low | $0.056 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Sainte-Béatrix 2,388 · 19 km | Low | $0.065 | 3.9% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Saint-Damien has the most fire on record (low); Sainte-Émélie-de-l'Énergie follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Damien faces
Practical steps for Saint-Damien’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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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-Damien.
- 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-Damien’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Saint-Damien’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Saint-Damien takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Damien
Does Saint-Damien flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Saint-Damien; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Damien?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Saint-Damien’s buildings lose $0.051 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Damien?
The area’s survey found 3.9% of 77 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Saint-Damien.
How is Saint-Damien’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Damien’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Saint-Damien at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Saint-Damien’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
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).