Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Saint-Polycarpe: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.2% of tested homes
Wildfire isn’t Saint-Polycarpe’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.001% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.18 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Saint-Polycarpe grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Polycarpe’s hazards
For Saint-Polycarpe, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Polycarpe faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Polycarpe grades C− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Saint-Polycarpe, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #342 of 507 in Quebec and #2,308 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.
Few fires near Saint-Polycarpe: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Saint-Polycarpe’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Saint-Polycarpe 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 14 km from Saint-Polycarpe’s homes since 1986.
With 0.1% forest fuel within 5 km and 3.2% within 25 km, the land around Saint-Polycarpe gives a fire little to burn.
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 upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Saint-Polycarpe ranks 136th of 513, 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-Polycarpe 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.
No flood study is listed for Saint-Polycarpe
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Polycarpe: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Saint-Polycarpe on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Saint-Polycarpe.
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-Polycarpe 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.”
Shaking is Saint-Polycarpe’s costliest hazard: $0.18 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Saint-Polycarpe loses $0.18, 6.1 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Saint-Polycarpe, at $0.18, 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.
13% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Saint-Polycarpe, 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Saint-Polycarpe is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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-Polycarpe are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Saint-Polycarpe’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.2% over the guideline, against 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Monteregie health region, with Saint-Polycarpe one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Saint-Polycarpe’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.
A middling share of high tests puts Saint-Polycarpe 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Saint-Polycarpe’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Saint-Polycarpe
Alerts for Saint-Polycarpe 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. |
Evacuation orders for Saint-Polycarpe come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Saint-Polycarpe’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-Polycarpe | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Rivière-Beaudette 2,806 · 7.7 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Zotique 10,445 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Les Coteaux 6,294 · 9.1 km | Low | $0.16 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Clet 1,784 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Coteau-du-Lac 7,839 · 11 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Sainte-Marthe 1,065 · 11 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | None listed |
Rivière-Beaudette (low) has the heaviest fire record of Saint-Polycarpe’s neighbours, and Saint-Polycarpe (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Polycarpe faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Polycarpe 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Saint-Polycarpe’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Saint-Polycarpe, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Saint-Polycarpe takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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-Polycarpe.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Polycarpe
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Polycarpe?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Polycarpe $0.18 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Saint-Polycarpe at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Saint-Polycarpe since 1986 (last in 2024); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Saint-Polycarpe flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Saint-Polycarpe’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Saint-Polycarpe’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Polycarpe’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Polycarpe?
Around Saint-Polycarpe, 110 survey homes were tested and 8.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).