Photo: Gordalmighty · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Sainte-Perpétue is higher than in 93% of Canadian towns
Wildfire isn’t Sainte-Perpétue’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.15 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Sainte-Perpétue grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Sainte-Perpétue’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sainte-Perpétue: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sainte-Perpétue faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Sainte-Perpétue grades D for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Sainte-Perpétue, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Sainte-Perpétue: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sainte-Perpétue’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Sainte-Perpétue burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
About as much forest grows next to Sainte-Perpétue’s homes (83% within 5 km) as across 25 km (80%).
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
Among the 514 towns in Quebec, Mistissini burns fastest (0.31% a year); Sainte-Perpétue is with the 145 near 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Sainte-Perpétue is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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-Perpétue
Flood studies whose area touches Sainte-Perpétue, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
There is no study for Sainte-Perpétue on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Sainte-Perpétue 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Sainte-Perpétue floods.
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-Perpétue’s costliest hazard: $0.15 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.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Sainte-Perpétue loses $0.15, 5 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Sainte-Perpétue, at $0.15, 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: 19% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Sainte-Perpétue.
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-Perpétue’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).
Test for radon in Sainte-Perpétue: 13% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A higher share than most: 13% of tested homes around Sainte-Perpétue, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Behind radon tests sits data gathered across the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region, with Sainte-Perpétue one part of it.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Sainte-Perpétue than in most towns in Quebec: 13% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 0.6% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Sainte-Perpétue is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are higher.
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-Perpétue; 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-Perpétue
Alerts for Sainte-Perpétue 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. |
Evacuation orders for Sainte-Perpétue come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Sainte-Perpétue
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Perpétue | Low | $0.15 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Pamphile 2,391 · 15 km | Low | $0.10 | 13% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Sainte-Perpétue (low); Saint-Pamphile comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sainte-Perpétue faces
What to do about the hazards Sainte-Perpétue 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Sainte-Perpétue without grading them.
- 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-Perpétue until then.
- 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-Perpétue’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Sainte-Perpétue’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Perpétue
Is Sainte-Perpétue at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Sainte-Perpétue: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Perpétue?
About $0.15 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Sainte-Perpétue.
How is Sainte-Perpétue’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sainte-Perpétue’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Sainte-Perpétue flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Sainte-Perpétue’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Perpétue?
Around Sainte-Perpétue, 175 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).