Photo: Cecil Adelaide · Public domainSaint-Eustache faces more hazards than 89% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Saint-Eustache, with 0% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.20 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 10% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Saint-Eustache grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Eustache’s hazards
For Saint-Eustache, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Eustache 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-Eustache: D
Seismic risk and radon set Saint-Eustache’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #466 of 507 in Quebec and #2,466 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 78 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Saint-Eustache: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Saint-Eustache’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Saint-Eustache is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Homes in Saint-Eustache sit on open or built-up ground (0.3% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 5.2%.
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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Saint-Eustache, as for 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops the list 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Saint-Eustache is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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-Eustache is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Eustache: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2006 study by Gouvernement du Québec covers Saint-Eustache, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moulins-Thérèse-De-Blainville-Deux-Montagnes-Laval | Gouvernement du Québec | 2006 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Saint-Eustache has one.
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-Eustache’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Saint-Eustache $0.20 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Saint-Eustache’s $0.20 is about 6.5 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Saint-Eustache, at $0.20, sits above 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 12% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Saint-Eustache.
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-Eustache 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).
10% of homes tested around Saint-Eustache are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Laurentides health region
Saint-Eustache’s area, at 10%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Saint-Eustache than in most towns in Quebec: 10% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 1.3% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Saint-Eustache, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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.
A low area share in Saint-Eustache doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Saint-Eustache
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Eustache; 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-Eustache come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Saint-Eustache’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-Eustache | Low | $0.20 | 10% | Yes |
| Deux-Montagnes 18,516 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.20 | 10% | Yes |
| Laval-Ouest 11,034 · 3.7 km | Low | $0.21 | 12% | Yes |
| Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac 21,949 · 5.5 km | Low | $0.19 | 10% | Yes |
| Fabreville 48,457 · 6.1 km | Low | $0.21 | 12% | Yes |
| Boisbriand 29,830 · 6.4 km | Low | $0.20 | 10% | Yes |
| Sainte-Dorothée 38,183 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.21 | 12% | Yes |
The fire record around Deux-Montagnes is a touch heavier than Saint-Eustache’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-Eustache faces
Practical steps for Saint-Eustache’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?
- 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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Saint-Eustache is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Saint-Eustache’s included.
- 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-Eustache.
- 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-Eustache.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Eustache
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Eustache?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Eustache $0.20 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Saint-Eustache flood?
There is flood mapping for Saint-Eustache on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Eustache?
10% of the 78 homes Health Canada tested around Saint-Eustache topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Saint-Eustache’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Eustache’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Saint-Eustache at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Saint-Eustache’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).