Photo: Fralambert · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon are mild: low wildfire and earthquake risk, and 3.9% of area homes above the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.074 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon grades B+ for hazard risk
For Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #46 of 507 in Quebec and #1,382 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.
Little of the land around Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon burns at 0.001% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 9.0 km from Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon’s homes since 1986.
Within 5 km of Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, 24% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 32%.
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-Gabriel-de-Brandon 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-Gabriel-de-Brandon, 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.
No flood study is listed for Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon has no flood study on file; only 45% of towns in Quebec do, against 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon.
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.”
Shaking is Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon’s costliest hazard: $0.074 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 2.5 times the typical $0.030: Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon’s $0.074 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon expects less, $0.074, and La Pocatière the most, $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: 28% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon.
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-Gabriel-de-Brandon’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).
3.9% of homes tested around Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Lanaudiere health region
Fewer homes than usual test high around Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon: 3.9% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), the area around Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon has fewer high tests: 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-Gabriel-de-Brandon’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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon; 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-Gabriel-de-Brandon come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon | Low | $0.074 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Saint-Gabriel 3,091 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.088 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Norbert 1,143 · 8.0 km | Low | $0.11 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Saint-Félix-de-Valois 7,670 · 12 km | Low | $0.089 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Saint-Jean-de-Matha 5,415 · 14 km | Low | $0.068 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Mandeville 2,511 · 14 km | Low | $0.056 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Cuthbert 1,865 · 15 km | Low | $0.12 | 3.9% | Yes |
Saint-Félix-de-Valois burns a little more than Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, 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-Gabriel-de-Brandon faces
Practical steps for Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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-Gabriel-de-Brandon.
- 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-Gabriel-de-Brandon’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon $0.074 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon?
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-Gabriel-de-Brandon.
How is Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).