Photo: Khayman · CC BY-SA 3.0Wildfire low, radon 2.8%: how Saint-Honoré stands on hazards
Little of the land around Saint-Honoré has burned: 0.3% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.007% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.22 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Saint-Honoré grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Saint-Honoré’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Honoré: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Honoré 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-Honoré: C+
For Saint-Honoré, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #105 of 507 in Quebec and #1,784 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 72 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.
Few fires near Saint-Honoré: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.3% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saint-Honoré’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Saint-Honoré’s 0.007% is in the low band.
About as much forest grows next to Saint-Honoré’s homes (57% within 5 km) as across 25 km (62%).
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
In the top quarter in Quebec: Saint-Honoré ranks 23rd of 513 at 0.007% a year, with Mistissini first 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-Honoré 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.
No flood study is listed for Saint-Honoré
Flood studies whose area touches Saint-Honoré, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Saint-Honoré on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint-Honoré 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Saint-Honoré’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Saint-Honoré $0.22 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Roughly 7.2 times the typical $0.030: Saint-Honoré’s $0.22 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Saint-Honoré, at $0.22, 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.
Saint-Honoré is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 7.6% rank higher.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Saint-Honoré’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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-Honoré: 2.8% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Saint-Honoré: 2.8% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Saint-Honoré, 2.8% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³, under the median in Quebec (8.2%); 1.4% were over 600.
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-Honoré 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Saint-Honoré only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean health region
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Honoré
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Honoré; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Saint-Honoré, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Honoré
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Honoré | Low | $0.22 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saint-David-de-Falardeau 3,128 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.16 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saguenay 151,972 · 14 km | Low | $0.21 | 2.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Fulgence 2,202 · 14 km | Low | $0.14 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Ambroise 4,262 · 18 km | Low | $0.22 | 2.8% | None listed |
Saguenay burns a little more than Saint-Honoré, 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-Honoré faces
Practical steps for Saint-Honoré’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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-Honoré’s.
- 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-Honoré.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Saint-Honoré takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Saint-Honoré’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-Honoré
How is Saint-Honoré’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Honoré grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Saint-Honoré flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Saint-Honoré, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Honoré?
About $0.22 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Saint-Honoré.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Honoré?
The area’s survey found 2.8% of 72 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Saint-Honoré.
Is Saint-Honoré at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Saint-Honoré’s low band (0.3% 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).