Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainWildfire low, radon 13%: how Saint-Prosper stands on hazards
Fire has left almost no mark near Saint-Prosper: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Saint-Prosper is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.054 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Saint-Prosper grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Saint-Prosper’s hazards
For Saint-Prosper, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Prosper faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Saint-Prosper grades C− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Saint-Prosper, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #365 of 507 in Quebec and #2,337 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-Prosper: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saint-Prosper’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Saint-Prosper is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 11 km from Saint-Prosper’s homes, none within 5 km.
About as much forest grows next to Saint-Prosper’s homes (74% within 5 km) as across 25 km (69%).
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
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Saint-Prosper, as for 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops the list at 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Saint-Prosper is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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-Prosper
Flood studies whose area touches Saint-Prosper, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Saint-Prosper; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Saint-Prosper is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Saint-Prosper.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Saint-Prosper: $0.054 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.
1.8 times the typical $0.030: Saint-Prosper’s $0.054 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Saint-Prosper’s $0.054 sits under the median in Quebec, $0.14, and well under La Pocatière’s $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.
30% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Saint-Prosper, 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-Prosper 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).
Radon runs high around Saint-Prosper: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region: radon tests
At 13% over the guideline, the area around Saint-Prosper beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Saint-Prosper’s area, at 13%, is above the median in Quebec (8.2%), and 0.6% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Saint-Prosper is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are higher.
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-Prosper 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-Prosper
Alerts for Saint-Prosper 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-Prosper 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-Prosper’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Prosper | Low | $0.054 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Benjamin 1,267 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.055 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Zacharie 1,674 · 14 km | Low | $0.051 | 13% | None listed |
| Notre-Dame-des-Pins 1,935 · 17 km | Low | $0.044 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Côme--Linière 3,435 · 17 km | Low | $0.050 | 13% | Yes |
| Saint-Georges 33,881 · 17 km | Low | $0.048 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Odilon-de-Cranbourne 1,460 · 19 km | Low | $0.062 | 13% | None listed |
Saint-Prosper’s low band tops its neighbours; Saint-Benjamin is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Prosper faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Prosper 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Saint-Prosper’s included.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Saint-Prosper takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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-Prosper.
- 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-Prosper.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Prosper
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Prosper?
Expected earthquake damage in Saint-Prosper comes to $0.054 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Saint-Prosper flood?
Nothing is listed for Saint-Prosper on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
How is Saint-Prosper’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Prosper’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Saint-Prosper at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Prosper has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Prosper?
In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of 175 homes tested in Saint-Prosper’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).