Photo: Fralambert · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 3.9%: how Sainte-Julienne stands on hazards
Fire seldom reaches Sainte-Julienne: since 1986, 0% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.001% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.11 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Sainte-Julienne grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Sainte-Julienne’s hazards
For Sainte-Julienne, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Sainte-Julienne 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-Julienne: B
Earthquake risk and radon make Sainte-Julienne’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #73 of 507 in Quebec and #1,469 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 77 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Sainte-Julienne: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sainte-Julienne’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Sainte-Julienne is 0.001%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
19% of the land within 5 km of Sainte-Julienne is forest fuel, close to the 20% 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 513
Sainte-Julienne burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 513 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Sainte-Julienne among them, though its rate is above zero; 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-Julienne
Flood studies whose area touches Sainte-Julienne, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Sainte-Julienne on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Sainte-Julienne.
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 Sainte-Julienne 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 Sainte-Julienne $0.11 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 3.7 times the typical $0.030: Sainte-Julienne’s $0.11 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Sainte-Julienne expects less, $0.11, and La Pocatière the most, $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.
25% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Sainte-Julienne, 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 Sainte-Julienne 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).
3.9% of homes tested around Sainte-Julienne are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A lower share than most: 3.9% of tested homes around Sainte-Julienne, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Lanaudiere health region, Sainte-Julienne included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Sainte-Julienne’s area, at 3.9%, is below the median 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-Julienne 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.
A low area share in Sainte-Julienne doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Sainte-Julienne
Alerts for Sainte-Julienne 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-Julienne 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 Sainte-Julienne
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Julienne | Low | $0.11 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Saint-Alexis 1,462 · 4.8 km | Low | $0.17 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Saint-Esprit 2,313 · 8.2 km | Low | $0.17 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Rawdon 13,099 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.085 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Saint-Jacques 4,830 · 10 km | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Saint-Calixte 7,627 · 12 km | Low | $0.091 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Saint-Liguori 2,268 · 12 km | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Sainte-Julienne (low), with Saint-Alexis next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sainte-Julienne faces
Practical steps for Sainte-Julienne’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Sainte-Julienne’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Sainte-Julienne, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Sainte-Julienne sits in.
- 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 Sainte-Julienne floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Julienne
Is Sainte-Julienne at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Sainte-Julienne’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Julienne?
About $0.11 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Sainte-Julienne.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Julienne?
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-Julienne.
How is Sainte-Julienne’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sainte-Julienne grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Sainte-Julienne flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Sainte-Julienne, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
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).