Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainSaint-Simon is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Saint-Simon: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.12 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Saint-Simon as elsewhere, 8.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Saint-Simon a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Saint-Simon’s hazards
For Saint-Simon, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Simon 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-Simon: C
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Saint-Simon with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Saint-Simon: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saint-Simon’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Saint-Simon burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel is scarce around Saint-Simon: 0.5% of the land within 5 km, 2.4% 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 514
Of the 514 towns in Quebec, 145 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Saint-Simon among them; Mistissini leads at 0.31% 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.
Saint-Simon shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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-Simon (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Saint-Simon, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 1983 study by Gouvernement du Québec covers Saint-Simon, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yamaska-St-Hyacinthe-St-césaire | Gouvernement du Québec | 1983 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Saint-Simon apart in Quebec, where 45% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Saint-Simon.
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-Simon’s costliest hazard: $0.12 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.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Saint-Simon loses $0.12, 4.1 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Saint-Simon, at $0.12, is right beside it, and La Pocatière tops the list 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.
23% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Saint-Simon, 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Saint-Simon.
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-Simon are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Monteregie health region
8.2% of tested homes around Saint-Simon were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Saint-Simon is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 8.2%, beside a median of 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-Simon 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 low area share in Saint-Simon 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-Simon
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Simon; 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. |
For fires near Saint-Simon, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Simon
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Simon | Low | $0.12 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Barnabé-Sud 1,053 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Hugues 1,414 · 8.8 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Liboire 3,123 · 9.0 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Sainte-Hélène-de-Bagot 1,887 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Hyacinthe 60,874 · 12 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Upton 2,149 · 14 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.2% | Yes |
The fire record around Saint-Hyacinthe is a touch heavier than Saint-Simon’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-Simon faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Simon 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Saint-Simon floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Saint-Simon’s included.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Saint-Simon sits in.
- 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-Simon.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Simon
Is radon a problem in Saint-Simon?
Around Saint-Simon, 110 survey homes were tested and 8.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Simon?
About $0.12 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Saint-Simon.
How is Saint-Simon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Saint-Simon C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Saint-Simon flood?
Saint-Simon’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is Saint-Simon at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Saint-Simon’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).