Photo: Veillg1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 8.2%: how Saint-Lambert stands on hazards
Burn scars are few around Saint-Lambert, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.002% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.22 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Saint-Lambert grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Lambert’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Lambert: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Lambert faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Lambert grades C− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Saint-Lambert’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #379 of 507 in Quebec and #2,358 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Saint-Lambert: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Saint-Lambert’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Saint-Lambert burns at 0.002% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Saint-Lambert’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 7.3 km away.
Around Saint-Lambert the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0.6% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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-Lambert 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Saint-Lambert stays low, with 92%.
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-Lambert
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Lambert: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Saint-Lambert, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Saint-Lambert has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Saint-Lambert to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.”
High seismic risk in Saint-Lambert: $0.22 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.22 per $1,000, Saint-Lambert carries roughly 7.3 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Quebec: Saint-Lambert’s $0.22 against a median of $0.14, with La Pocatière highest at $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.
Saint-Lambert is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 7.5% 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-Lambert’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).
8.2% of homes tested around Saint-Lambert are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Monteregie health region: radon tests
The survey area of Saint-Lambert reads 8.2%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Saint-Lambert’s area, at 8.2%, is close to the median in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Saint-Lambert’s 5–10% 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.
One home in Saint-Lambert can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Lambert
Alerts for Saint-Lambert come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Saint-Lambert to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Lambert
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Lambert | Low | $0.22 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Lemoyne 5,052 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Vieux Greenfield Park 10,998 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde 6,671 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Jean-Vianney 13,181 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Laflèche 19,706 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Notre-Dame-de-Grâces 10,204 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.23 | 8.2% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Saint-Lambert (low); Lemoyne comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Lambert faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Lambert faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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-Lambert is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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-Lambert.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Saint-Lambert’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Saint-Lambert’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Lambert
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Lambert?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Lambert $0.22 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Lambert?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Saint-Lambert’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Saint-Lambert’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Lambert’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Saint-Lambert at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Lambert has burned since 1986, the last in 2024, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Saint-Lambert flood?
Nothing is listed for Saint-Lambert on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).