Photo: Fralambert · CC BY-SA 4.0Sainte-Ursule’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 0% of area homes over the radon guideline
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Sainte-Ursule, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.11 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Sainte-Ursule grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Sainte-Ursule’s hazards
For Sainte-Ursule, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Sainte-Ursule 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-Ursule: B+
Earthquake risk and radon make Sainte-Ursule’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 58 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-Ursule: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Sainte-Ursule’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Sainte-Ursule fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Nothing inside 5 km of Sainte-Ursule’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 24 km off.
There is forest near Sainte-Ursule’s homes (12% within 5 km) and more of it further out (23% 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-Ursule 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Sainte-Ursule 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-Ursule
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sainte-Ursule: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Sainte-Ursule, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Sainte-Ursule has none.
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-Ursule’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.”
High seismic risk in Sainte-Ursule: $0.11 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Sainte-Ursule’s $0.11 is about 3.6 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Sainte-Ursule’s $0.11 sits under the median in Quebec, $0.14, and well under 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 25% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Sainte-Ursule.
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-Ursule 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).
0% of homes tested around Sainte-Ursule are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Mauricie et Centre-du-Quebec health region
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Sainte-Ursule’s area, at 0%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Sainte-Ursule (0%) than in 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.
Few tests over the guideline: Sainte-Ursule shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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.
Whatever Sainte-Ursule’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Sainte-Ursule
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sainte-Ursule; 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-Ursule, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Sainte-Ursule
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Ursule | Low | $0.11 | 0% | None listed |
| Maskinongé 2,457 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.13 | 0% | Yes |
| Louiseville 7,570 · 11 km | Low | $0.13 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Paulin 1,659 · 13 km | Low | $0.086 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Barthélemy 2,115 · 13 km | Low | $0.10 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Yamachiche 2,801 · 18 km | Low | $0.14 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Alexis-des-Monts 3,190 · 19 km | Low | $0.052 | 0% | Yes |
The fire record around Yamachiche is a touch heavier than Sainte-Ursule’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sainte-Ursule faces
Practical steps for Sainte-Ursule’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
- Wildfire counts one way. For Sainte-Ursule, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Sainte-Ursule’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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-Ursule.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Sainte-Ursule takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Ursule
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Ursule?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Sainte-Ursule’s buildings lose $0.11 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Sainte-Ursule at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Sainte-Ursule’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2022), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Ursule?
0% of the 58 homes Health Canada tested around Sainte-Ursule topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Sainte-Ursule’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sainte-Ursule’s Hazard risk grade is B+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Sainte-Ursule flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Sainte-Ursule (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask 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).