Photo: Cantons-de-l'Est · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 2.8%: how Saint-Félix-d'Otis stands on hazards
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.18 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Saint-Félix-d'Otis grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Félix-d'Otis’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Félix-d'Otis: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Félix-d'Otis faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Félix-d'Otis grades B− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 72 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.
Few fires near Saint-Félix-d'Otis: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps Saint-Félix-d'Otis in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ homes came within 6.0 km, never inside 5 km.
There is forest near Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ homes (57% within 5 km) and more of it further out (66% 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
At 0.001% a year, Saint-Félix-d'Otis ranks 136th of the 514 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-Félix-d'Otis 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.
No flood study is listed for Saint-Félix-d'Otis
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Félix-d'Otis: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Saint-Félix-d'Otis on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Saint-Félix-d'Otis has none.
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-Félix-d'Otis’ 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Saint-Félix-d'Otis $0.18 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ $0.18 is about 6.1 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-Félix-d'Otis, at $0.18, 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: 13% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Saint-Félix-d'Otis.
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-Félix-d'Otis’ 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).
Little radon around Saint-Félix-d'Otis: 2.8% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 2.8% over the guideline, the area around Saint-Félix-d'Otis is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ area, at 2.8%, is below the median in Quebec (8.2%), though 1.4% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Saint-Félix-d'Otis shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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-Félix-d'Otis; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean health region
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Félix-d'Otis
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Félix-d'Otis; 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-Félix-d'Otis, 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)
Get ready for what Saint-Félix-d'Otis faces
Practical steps for Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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-Félix-d'Otis is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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-Félix-d'Otis.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Félix-d'Otis
How is Saint-Félix-d'Otis’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Saint-Félix-d'Otis flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Saint-Félix-d'Otis (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is Saint-Félix-d'Otis at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2023), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Félix-d'Otis?
2.8% of the 72 homes Health Canada tested around Saint-Félix-d'Otis topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Félix-d'Otis?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Saint-Félix-d'Otis’ buildings lose $0.18 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).