Photo: ChristianT · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Saint-Prime: 1 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Burn scars are few around Saint-Prime, 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 $0.16 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is lower than usual: 2.8% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Saint-Prime a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Saint-Prime’s hazards
For Saint-Prime, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Prime 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-Prime: B−
Seismic risk and radon set Saint-Prime’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #85 of 507 in Quebec and #1,595 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 72 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Saint-Prime has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saint-Prime’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.002% of the land a year around Saint-Prime, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Nothing inside 5 km of Saint-Prime’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 7.0 km off.
Forest fuel covers 28% of the land close to Saint-Prime and 64% 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 513
Mistissini burns fastest in Quebec at 0.31% a year; Saint-Prime, at 0.002%, ranks 35th of 513.
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-Prime 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.
Gouvernement du Québec has mapped flooding for Saint-Prime (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Saint-Prime, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2007 study by Gouvernement du Québec covers Saint-Prime, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roberval | Gouvernement du Québec | 2007 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Saint-Prime has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Saint-Prime’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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-Prime’s costliest hazard: $0.16 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Roughly 5.3 times the typical $0.030: Saint-Prime’s $0.16 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Saint-Prime at $0.16 beside a median in Quebec of $0.14, with La Pocatière on top 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.
15% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Saint-Prime, 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-Prime 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).
Little radon around Saint-Prime: 2.8% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Saint-Prime’s area has fewer, 2.8%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Saint-Prime, 2.8% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³, under the median in Quebec (8.2%); 1.4% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Saint-Prime’s 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Saint-Prime, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean health region
Where to get warnings in Saint-Prime
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Prime; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Saint-Prime, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Prime
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Prime | Low | $0.16 | 2.8% | Yes |
| Mashteuiatsh 2,074 · 7.7 km | Low | $0.13 | 2.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Félicien 10,143 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.13 | 2.8% | Yes |
| Roberval 9,828 · 13 km | Low | $0.13 | 2.8% | Yes |
The fire record around Mashteuiatsh is a touch heavier than Saint-Prime’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-Prime faces
Practical steps for Saint-Prime’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.
- 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-Prime until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Saint-Prime’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Saint-Prime without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Saint-Prime, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Prime
Is radon a problem in Saint-Prime?
The area’s survey found 2.8% of 72 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Saint-Prime.
Is Saint-Prime at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Saint-Prime’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2009) is short of the level that counts.
Does Saint-Prime flood?
A flood study covers Saint-Prime on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Saint-Prime’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Prime’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Prime?
About $0.16 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Saint-Prime.
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).