Photo: Fralambert · CC BY-SA 4.0Sainte-Élisabeth’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 3.9% of area homes over the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Sainte-Élisabeth: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.14 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Sainte-Élisabeth a grade of B−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Sainte-Élisabeth’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sainte-Élisabeth: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sainte-Élisabeth faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Sainte-Élisabeth grades B− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Sainte-Élisabeth’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Sainte-Élisabeth has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sainte-Élisabeth’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Sainte-Élisabeth’s 0.001% is in the low band.
The 5 km ring around Sainte-Élisabeth’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 5.2 km out.
Homes in Sainte-Élisabeth sit on open or built-up ground (0.8% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 13%.
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
Sainte-Élisabeth sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 514 towns, at 0.001% a year, well 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Sainte-Élisabeth 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 Sainte-Élisabeth
Flood studies whose area touches Sainte-Élisabeth, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Sainte-Élisabeth on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Sainte-Élisabeth; in Quebec, 45% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Sainte-Élisabeth.
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 Sainte-Élisabeth $0.14 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Roughly 4.7 times the typical $0.030: Sainte-Élisabeth’s $0.14 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Quebec: Sainte-Élisabeth’s $0.14 sits by the median of $0.14, while La Pocatière reaches $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.
20% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Sainte-Élisabeth, 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).
The loss is to Sainte-Élisabeth’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Sainte-Élisabeth: 3.9% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Sainte-Élisabeth’s survey area reads 3.9% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Sainte-Élisabeth doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Lanaudiere health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Sainte-Élisabeth (3.9%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Sainte-Élisabeth with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
The survey sampled homes around Sainte-Élisabeth; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Sainte-Élisabeth
Alerts for Sainte-Élisabeth 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 Sainte-Élisabeth to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Sainte-Élisabeth’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Élisabeth | Low | $0.14 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Notre-Dame-des-Prairies 9,622 · 7.7 km | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Félix-de-Valois 7,670 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.089 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes 3,328 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.13 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Charles-Borromée 16,904 · 10.0 km | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Sainte-Mélanie 3,417 · 10 km | Low | $0.085 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Thomas 3,477 · 11 km | Low | $0.15 | 3.9% | Yes |
The fire record around Saint-Félix-de-Valois is a touch heavier than Sainte-Élisabeth’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 Sainte-Élisabeth faces
Practical steps for Sainte-Élisabeth’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Sainte-Élisabeth without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Sainte-Élisabeth’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Sainte-Élisabeth’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Sainte-Élisabeth until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Élisabeth
Is Sainte-Élisabeth at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Sainte-Élisabeth’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Sainte-Élisabeth flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Sainte-Élisabeth, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Élisabeth?
About $0.14 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Sainte-Élisabeth.
How is Sainte-Élisabeth’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sainte-Élisabeth grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Élisabeth?
The area’s survey found 3.9% of 77 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Sainte-Élisabeth.
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).