Photo: Sjvachon · CC BY-SA 4.0Sainte-Marie’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 13% of area homes over the radon guideline
Wildfire isn’t Sainte-Marie’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.065 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Sainte-Marie a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Sainte-Marie’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sainte-Marie: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sainte-Marie faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Sainte-Marie grades C− for hazard risk
The grade weighs Sainte-Marie’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #408 of 507 in Quebec and #2,387 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Sainte-Marie has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sainte-Marie’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Sainte-Marie burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 20 km from Sainte-Marie’s homes, none within 5 km.
Forest fuel covers 17% of the land close to Sainte-Marie and 34% across 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
Mistissini has the highest burn rate in Quebec, 0.31% a year; around Sainte-Marie, as around 144 of the 513 towns, it rounds to zero.
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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Sainte-Marie, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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-Marie
Flood studies whose area touches Sainte-Marie, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Sainte-Marie, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Sainte-Marie has none.
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-Marie’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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Sainte-Marie $0.065 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.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Sainte-Marie loses $0.065, 2.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.065, Sainte-Marie 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 29% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Sainte-Marie.
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-Marie’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).
Radon runs high around Sainte-Marie: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region: radon tests
Sainte-Marie’s area, at 13%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Sainte-Marie, 13% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 0.6% over 600, against a median of 8.2% in Quebec.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Sainte-Marie among them; 4.6% rank above.
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-Marie; 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-Marie
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sainte-Marie; 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 Sainte-Marie, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Sainte-Marie
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Marie | Low | $0.065 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Elzéar 2,842 · 6.0 km | Low | $0.051 | 13% | None listed |
| Scott 2,938 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.098 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Bernard 2,680 · 11 km | Low | $0.10 | 13% | None listed |
| Sainte-Marguerite 1,297 · 11 km | Low | $0.062 | 13% | None listed |
| Vallée-Jonction 2,042 · 11 km | Low | $0.049 | 13% | None listed |
| Sainte-Hénédine 1,550 · 14 km | Low | $0.078 | 13% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Sainte-Marie has the most fire on record (low); Saint-Elzéar follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sainte-Marie faces
What to do about the hazards Sainte-Marie 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
- 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-Marie.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Sainte-Marie’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Sainte-Marie’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Sainte-Marie takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Marie
How is Sainte-Marie’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sainte-Marie’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Sainte-Marie flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Sainte-Marie’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Sainte-Marie at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Sainte-Marie since 1986 (last in 2022); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Marie?
Around Sainte-Marie, 175 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Marie?
About $0.065 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Sainte-Marie.
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).