Photo: Roncanada · CC BY 4.0Saint-Paulin is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Saint-Paulin, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.086 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Saint-Paulin a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Saint-Paulin’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Paulin: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Paulin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Paulin grades A− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Saint-Paulin’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 58 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Saint-Paulin: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saint-Paulin’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Saint-Paulin fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Fire has stayed at least 16 km from Saint-Paulin’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel covers 22% of the land close to Saint-Paulin and 31% across 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 514
In the upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Saint-Paulin ranks 136th of 514, at 0.001% a year.
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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Saint-Paulin among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
Gouvernement du Québec has mapped flooding for Saint-Paulin (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Saint-Paulin, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Gouvernement du Québec studied flooding in an area that includes Saint-Paulin (2008); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| St-Alexis-des-Monts-St-Paulin | Gouvernement du Québec | 2008 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint-Paulin is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Saint-Paulin floods.
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.
High seismic risk in Saint-Paulin: $0.086 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Roughly 2.9 times the typical $0.030: Saint-Paulin’s $0.086 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-Paulin expects less, $0.086, 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.
27% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Saint-Paulin, 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Saint-Paulin’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).
0% of homes tested around Saint-Paulin are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 0% over the guideline, the area around Saint-Paulin is under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Quebec (8.2%), the area around Saint-Paulin has fewer high tests: 0%.
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-Paulin 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.
The survey sampled homes around Saint-Paulin; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Mauricie et Centre-du-Quebec health region
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Paulin
Alerts for Saint-Paulin 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Saint-Paulin are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Saint-Paulin’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Paulin | Low | $0.086 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Élie-de-Caxton 2,062 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.076 | 0% | None listed |
| Charette 1,178 · 9.3 km | Low | $0.10 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Alexis-des-Monts 3,190 · 11 km | Low | $0.052 | 0% | Yes |
| Sainte-Ursule 1,363 · 13 km | Low | $0.11 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Barnabé 1,234 · 15 km | Low | $0.12 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Boniface 5,405 · 17 km | Low | $0.090 | 0% | Yes |
The fire record around Saint-Élie-de-Caxton is a touch heavier than Saint-Paulin’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Paulin faces
Practical steps for Saint-Paulin’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
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-Paulin is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Saint-Paulin’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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-Paulin.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Saint-Paulin’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Paulin
Is Saint-Paulin at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Saint-Paulin’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2020) is short of the level that counts.
Does Saint-Paulin flood?
There is flood mapping for Saint-Paulin on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Paulin?
About $0.086 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Saint-Paulin.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Paulin?
The area’s survey found 0% of 58 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Saint-Paulin.
How is Saint-Paulin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Paulin grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
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).