Photo: Fralambert · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 8.8%: how Saint-Ubalde stands on hazards
For Saint-Ubalde, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.078 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Saint-Ubalde a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Saint-Ubalde’s hazards
For Saint-Ubalde, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Ubalde 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-Ubalde: C
Two inputs always count for Saint-Ubalde, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Little of the land around Saint-Ubalde has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Saint-Ubalde’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Saint-Ubalde is 0.001%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 19 km from Saint-Ubalde’s homes since 1986.
Forest thickens with distance from Saint-Ubalde: 30% of the land within 5 km, 36% 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
Saint-Ubalde burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 514 towns in Quebec; the leader, Mistissini, reaches 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Saint-Ubalde reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Saint-Ubalde
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Ubalde: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Saint-Ubalde, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Saint-Ubalde has no flood study on file; only 45% of towns in Quebec do, against 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Saint-Ubalde to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Saint-Ubalde $0.078 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Saint-Ubalde loses $0.078, 2.6 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.078, Saint-Ubalde is below the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière is highest 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.
28% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Saint-Ubalde, 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-Ubalde 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).
Some radon around Saint-Ubalde: 8.8% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Saint-Ubalde’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.8% over the guideline, against 6.6%. Saint-Ubalde doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Capitale-Nationale health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ordinary for towns in Quebec at 8.8% over 200 Bq/m³ (8.2% is the median), the area around Saint-Ubalde had 2.5% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Saint-Ubalde is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
Whatever Saint-Ubalde’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Saint-Ubalde
Alerts for Saint-Ubalde 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-Ubalde 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-Ubalde’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-Ubalde | Low | $0.078 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Alban 1,264 · 11 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Casimir 1,506 · 14 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Lac-aux-Sables 1,463 · 17 km | Low | $0.067 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Marc-des-Carrières 2,961 · 18 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Saint-Ubalde (low), with Saint-Alban next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Ubalde faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Ubalde 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
- 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-Ubalde until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Saint-Ubalde, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Saint-Ubalde without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Saint-Ubalde’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Ubalde
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Ubalde?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Saint-Ubalde’s buildings lose $0.078 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Saint-Ubalde flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Saint-Ubalde’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Saint-Ubalde’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Ubalde grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Ubalde?
Around Saint-Ubalde, 160 survey homes were tested and 8.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Saint-Ubalde at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Saint-Ubalde since 1986 (last in 2016); at low, it neither helps nor hurts 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).