Photo: Veillg1 · CC0Wildfire low, radon 8.2%: how Sainte-Marthe stands on hazards
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Sainte-Marthe’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 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. Sainte-Marthe grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Sainte-Marthe’s hazards
For Sainte-Marthe, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Sainte-Marthe 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-Marthe: C
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Sainte-Marthe with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Sainte-Marthe has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Sainte-Marthe’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Sainte-Marthe is 0.001%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Sainte-Marthe’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 19 km away.
Forest fuel is scarce around Sainte-Marthe: 3.8% of the land within 5 km, 3.4% 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
In the upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Sainte-Marthe ranks 136th of 514, at 0.001% a year.
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.
Some fire is mapped around Sainte-Marthe, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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-Marthe
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sainte-Marthe: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Sainte-Marthe, 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 Sainte-Marthe is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Sainte-Marthe’s homes are at risk.
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-Marthe $0.14 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.14 per $1,000, Sainte-Marthe carries roughly 4.6 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Sainte-Marthe runs at $0.14 a year, near the $0.14 of the typical town in Quebec; La Pocatière has $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.
Sainte-Marthe sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 22% 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Sainte-Marthe.
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-Marthe are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
8.2% of tested homes around Sainte-Marthe were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Sainte-Marthe, 8.2% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as 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.
A middling share of high tests puts Sainte-Marthe with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Sainte-Marthe’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Monteregie health region, not by town
Where to get warnings in Sainte-Marthe
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sainte-Marthe; 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. |
For fires near Sainte-Marthe, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Sainte-Marthe’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Marthe | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Clet 1,784 · 6.9 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Très-Saint-Rédempteur 1,163 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Rigaud 8,187 · 9.2 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Lazare 22,895 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Polycarpe 2,549 · 11 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Hudson 5,533 · 12 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | Yes |
Nowhere around Sainte-Marthe burns more: Saint-Clet, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sainte-Marthe faces
What to do about the hazards Sainte-Marthe 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-Marthe’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Sainte-Marthe, 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. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Sainte-Marthe until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Sainte-Marthe without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Marthe
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Marthe?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Sainte-Marthe’s buildings lose $0.14 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Sainte-Marthe’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Sainte-Marthe C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Marthe?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Sainte-Marthe’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Sainte-Marthe at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Sainte-Marthe has burned since 1986, the last in 2024, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Sainte-Marthe flood?
Nothing is listed for Sainte-Marthe on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
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).