Photo: Stéphane Batigne · CC BY 3.0Saint-Urbain faces more hazards than 86% of Canadian towns
The burn rate around Saint-Urbain is 0.09% a year (3.5% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.25 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is about average around Saint-Urbain: 8.8% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Saint-Urbain grades D for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Saint-Urbain’s hazards
For Saint-Urbain, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Urbain 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-Urbain: D
The grade weighs Saint-Urbain’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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.
A moderate wildfire record for Saint-Urbain: 3.5% within 25 km burned, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Saint-Urbain’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.09% of the land a year, Saint-Urbain’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Saint-Urbain’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 11 km off.
Within 5 km of Saint-Urbain, 76% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 83%.
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-Urbain ranks 4th of the 514 towns in Quebec for burn rate, at 0.09% a year; Mistissini leads with 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.
Moderate puts Saint-Urbain above most of Canada’s 2,610 towns, yet 2.1% rank high or very high and 5.4% share its band.
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.
Saint-Urbain is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Saint-Urbain, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Saint-Urbain is Gouvernement du Québec’s, dated 1979; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baie-Saint-Paul-Saint-Urbain | Gouvernement du Québec | 1979 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Saint-Urbain among them, below the 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Saint-Urbain’s homes are at risk.
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.
High seismic risk in Saint-Urbain: $0.25 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.
At $0.25 per $1,000, Saint-Urbain carries roughly 8.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.25, Saint-Urbain is above the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière has the most 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.
Saint-Urbain is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 6.2% rank higher.
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-Urbain 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 about average around Saint-Urbain: 8.8% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 8.8% over the guideline, the area around Saint-Urbain is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Capitale-Nationale health region as a whole, not for Saint-Urbain alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Saint-Urbain’s area, at 8.8%, is close to the median in Quebec (8.2%); 2.5% 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Saint-Urbain’s 5–10% 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.
Neighbouring homes in Saint-Urbain can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Saint-Urbain
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Saint-Urbain; 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-Urbain, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Urbain
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Urbain | Moderate | $0.25 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Hilarion 1,221 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.37 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Baie-Saint-Paul 7,760 · 13 km | Low | $0.29 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Les Éboulements 1,661 · 18 km | Low | $0.34 | 8.8% | None listed |
Saint-Hilarion (low) has the heaviest fire record of Saint-Urbain’s neighbours, and Saint-Urbain (moderate) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Urbain faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Urbain faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- 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.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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-Urbain sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Saint-Urbain, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Saint-Urbain’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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-Urbain floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Urbain
How is Saint-Urbain’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Saint-Urbain D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Urbain?
About $0.25 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Saint-Urbain.
Does Saint-Urbain flood?
Saint-Urbain’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 radon a problem in Saint-Urbain?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.8% of 160 homes tested in Saint-Urbain’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Saint-Urbain at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 3.5% of the land within 25 km of Saint-Urbain has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a moderate band that leaves Risk alone.
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).