Photo: Veillg1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Saint-Lazare: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.2% of tested homes
Wildfire isn’t Saint-Lazare’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.14 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Saint-Lazare a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Saint-Lazare’s hazards
For Saint-Lazare, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Lazare faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Lazare grades C for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Saint-Lazare with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #248 of 507 in Quebec and #2,200 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Saint-Lazare: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Saint-Lazare’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.001% of the land around Saint-Lazare each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Saint-Lazare’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 9.7 km away.
The ring nearest Saint-Lazare is the most wooded: 9% forest fuel within 5 km against 3% 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 513
Saint-Lazare 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Saint-Lazare 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-Lazare
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Lazare: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Saint-Lazare; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint-Lazare 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-Lazare.
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-Lazare’s costliest hazard: $0.14 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.14 per $1,000, Saint-Lazare carries roughly 4.6 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Saint-Lazare’s $0.14 is close to the median in Quebec, $0.14; La Pocatière is 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.
20% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Saint-Lazare, which places it in the upper third.
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-Lazare 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).
Some radon around Saint-Lazare: 8.2% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Saint-Lazare’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.2% over the guideline, against 6.6%. Saint-Lazare doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Monteregie health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Saint-Lazare’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-Lazare’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.
A low area share in Saint-Lazare 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-Lazare
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Lazare; 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-Lazare 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-Lazare’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-Lazare | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Hudson 5,533 · 6.3 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Clet 1,784 · 7.5 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Vaudreuil-Dorion 46,413 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.17 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac 1,340 · 9.0 km | Low | $0.17 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Kanesatake 1,872 · 9.4 km | Low | $0.10 | 10% | Yes |
| Sainte-Marthe 1,065 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Saint-Lazare (low); Hudson comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Lazare faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Lazare 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-Lazare 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-Lazare’s included.
- 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-Lazare.
- 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-Lazare.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Lazare
Does Saint-Lazare flood?
Nothing is listed for Saint-Lazare on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Saint-Lazare at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Lazare has burned since 1986, the last in 2024, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How is Saint-Lazare’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Lazare’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Lazare?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Saint-Lazare’s buildings lose $0.14 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Lazare?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Saint-Lazare’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).