Photo: Miguel Tremblay · CC0Hazards in Saint-Zénon are mild: low wildfire and earthquake risk, and 3.9% of area homes above the radon guideline
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Saint-Zénon, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. For earthquakes Saint-Zénon is middling, $0.042 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Saint-Zénon a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Saint-Zénon’s hazards
For Saint-Zénon, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Saint-Zénon 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-Zénon: B+
Two inputs always count for Saint-Zénon, 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. Only 77 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Saint-Zénon: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Saint-Zénon’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Saint-Zénon at 0.001% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 10 km from Saint-Zénon’s homes since 1986.
About as much forest grows next to Saint-Zénon’s homes (67% 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 514
At 0.001% a year, Saint-Zénon ranks 136th of the 514 towns in Quebec; Mistissini leads 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Saint-Zénon burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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-Zénon
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Zénon: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Saint-Zénon, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Saint-Zénon 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 mapping is shown for Saint-Zénon 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Saint-Zénon: $0.042 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Saint-Zénon’s $0.042 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.4 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.042, Saint-Zénon 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.
Saint-Zénon’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 43% of the 2,611 towns are 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Saint-Zénon 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-Zénon: 3.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Saint-Zénon’s area, at 3.9%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Lanaudiere health region, Saint-Zénon included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Saint-Zénon than in most towns in Quebec: 3.9% against 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Saint-Zénon, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see 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-Zénon’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-Zénon
Alerts for Saint-Zénon 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Saint-Zénon to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Saint-Zénon
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Zénon | Low | $0.042 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Saint-Michel-des-Saints 2,841 · 13 km | Low | $0.040 | 3.9% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Saint-Zénon (low), with Saint-Michel-des-Saints next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Saint-Zénon faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Zénon 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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Saint-Zénon, 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-Zénon 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-Zénon’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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-Zénon until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Zénon
How is Saint-Zénon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Zénon’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Saint-Zénon?
Around Saint-Zénon, 77 survey homes were tested and 3.9% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Saint-Zénon flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Saint-Zénon’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Saint-Zénon at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Saint-Zénon since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Zénon?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Zénon $0.042 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).