Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazards in Sainte-Sophie: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 10% of tested homes
Wildfire is rare near Sainte-Sophie: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.002% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.12 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Sainte-Sophie a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Sainte-Sophie’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sainte-Sophie: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sainte-Sophie 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-Sophie: C−
For Sainte-Sophie, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #362 of 507 in Quebec and #2,333 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 78 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Sainte-Sophie: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.1% within 5 km
Past fire around Sainte-Sophie’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Sainte-Sophie at 0.002% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Sainte-Sophie: 22% within 5 km, 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-Sophie ranks 35th of the 513 towns in Quebec for burn rate, at 0.002% a year; Mistissini leads with 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-Sophie 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.
No flood study is listed for Sainte-Sophie
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sainte-Sophie: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Sainte-Sophie on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Sainte-Sophie 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-Sophie’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.”
High seismic risk in Sainte-Sophie: $0.12 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 3.9 times the typical $0.030: Sainte-Sophie’s $0.12 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Sainte-Sophie ($0.12) matches the middle in Quebec ($0.14), far from La Pocatière’s $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-Sophie sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 24% 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).
The loss is to Sainte-Sophie’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-Sophie: 10% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Laurentides health region: radon tests
Sainte-Sophie’s survey area reads 10% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Sainte-Sophie (10%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 1.3% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Sainte-Sophie 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.
One home in Sainte-Sophie can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Sainte-Sophie
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sainte-Sophie; 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-Sophie, 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)
Hazards in the places around Sainte-Sophie
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Sophie | Low | $0.12 | 10% | None listed |
| Saint-Jérôme 85,160 · 7.2 km | Low | $0.15 | 10% | Yes |
| Saint-Hippolyte 12,550 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.085 | 10% | None listed |
| Prévost 14,275 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.088 | 10% | Yes |
| Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines 15,904 · 12 km | Low | $0.19 | 10% | None listed |
| Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs 4,080 · 14 km | Low | $0.10 | 10% | None listed |
| Saint-Lin--Laurentides 26,673 · 14 km | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | None listed |
Sainte-Sophie’s low band tops its neighbours; Saint-Hippolyte is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sainte-Sophie faces
Practical steps for Sainte-Sophie’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. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Sainte-Sophie’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Sainte-Sophie is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Sainte-Sophie’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Sainte-Sophie.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Sophie
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Sophie?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Sainte-Sophie $0.12 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Sophie?
The area’s survey found 10% of 78 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Sainte-Sophie.
Does Sainte-Sophie flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Sainte-Sophie, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
Is Sainte-Sophie at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Sainte-Sophie’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
How is Sainte-Sophie’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sainte-Sophie’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).