Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Saint-Mathieu: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from municipalité de Saint-Philippe
For Saint-Mathieu, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.001% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.18 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is about average around Saint-Mathieu: 8.2% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Saint-Mathieu a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Saint-Mathieu’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Mathieu: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Mathieu 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-Mathieu: C−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Saint-Mathieu with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #337 of 507 in Quebec and #2,301 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Saint-Mathieu has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Saint-Mathieu’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Saint-Mathieu at 0.001% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Saint-Mathieu’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 10 km away.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Saint-Mathieu: forest fuel is 0.2% within 5 km and 1.4% 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-Mathieu 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-Mathieu, 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.
2 flood studies cover Saint-Mathieu, the newest from municipalité de Saint-Philippe
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Mathieu: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 2 studies covering Saint-Mathieu is municipalité de Saint-Philippe’s, from 2012; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| St-Philippe | municipalité de Saint-Philippe | 2012 | final |
| Roussillon-Tortue | MRC Roussillon | 2000 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Saint-Mathieu has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Saint-Mathieu between the 2000s and the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Saint-Mathieu.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Saint-Mathieu.
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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Shaking is Saint-Mathieu’s costliest hazard: $0.18 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.18 per $1,000, Saint-Mathieu carries roughly 6 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-Mathieu’s $0.18 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 13% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Saint-Mathieu.
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 model counts damage to Saint-Mathieu’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
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-Mathieu are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Saint-Mathieu’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.2% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Saint-Mathieu, 8.2% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Saint-Mathieu with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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-Mathieu 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). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Monteregie health region
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Mathieu
Alerts for Saint-Mathieu 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-Mathieu to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Saint-Mathieu’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-Mathieu | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Philippe 8,674 · 5.8 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Candiac 24,920 · 7.7 km | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Delson 8,802 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.21 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Constant 32,124 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.22 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Michel 3,672 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur 1,907 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.19 | 8.2% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Saint-Mathieu (low); Saint-Philippe comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Mathieu faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Mathieu 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Saint-Mathieu until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Saint-Mathieu without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Saint-Mathieu’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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-Mathieu’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Mathieu
Does Saint-Mathieu flood?
A flood study covers Saint-Mathieu on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Mathieu?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Saint-Mathieu’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Saint-Mathieu’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Mathieu’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Saint-Mathieu at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Mathieu has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Mathieu?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Mathieu $0.18 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).