Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Sainte-Barbe’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.2% of area homes over the radon guideline
Burn scars are few around Sainte-Barbe, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.002% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.17 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Sainte-Barbe a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Sainte-Barbe’s hazards
For Sainte-Barbe, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Sainte-Barbe faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Sainte-Barbe: C−
Two inputs always count for Sainte-Barbe, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Few fires near Sainte-Barbe: 0.1% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sainte-Barbe’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Sainte-Barbe burns at 0.002% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Little near Sainte-Barbe’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 2.4% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 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
At 0.002% a year, Sainte-Barbe is near the top in Quebec: 35th of 514, behind Mistissini (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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Sainte-Barbe stays low, with 92%.
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 Sainte-Barbe
Flood studies whose area touches Sainte-Barbe, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Sainte-Barbe, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Sainte-Barbe 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 is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Sainte-Barbe’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
Shaking is Sainte-Barbe’s costliest hazard: $0.17 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.
At $0.17 per $1,000, Sainte-Barbe carries roughly 5.7 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Sainte-Barbe, at $0.17, 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 14% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Sainte-Barbe.
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 Sainte-Barbe 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).
8.2% of homes tested around Sainte-Barbe are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Monteregie health region: radon tests
Around Sainte-Barbe, 8.2% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Sainte-Barbe’s area has 8.2%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Sainte-Barbe 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Sainte-Barbe, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Sainte-Barbe
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sainte-Barbe; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Sainte-Barbe come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Sainte-Barbe
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Barbe | Low | $0.17 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Zotique 10,445 · 7.6 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka 2,162 · 8.5 km | Low | $0.19 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Godmanchester 1,590 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Les Coteaux 6,294 · 10 km | Low | $0.16 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Huntingdon 3,001 · 11 km | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Rivière-Beaudette 2,806 · 11 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Sainte-Barbe (low), with Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sainte-Barbe faces
What to do about the hazards Sainte-Barbe 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Sainte-Barbe’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Sainte-Barbe takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Sainte-Barbe.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Sainte-Barbe, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Barbe
Does Sainte-Barbe flood?
Nothing is listed for Sainte-Barbe on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Is Sainte-Barbe at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Sainte-Barbe has burned since 1986, the last in 2024, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Barbe?
About $0.17 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Sainte-Barbe.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Barbe?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Sainte-Barbe’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Sainte-Barbe’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sainte-Barbe’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).