Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazards in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 8.2% of tested homes
Burn scars are few around Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.19 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Hazard risk gives Salaberry-de-Valleyfield a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s hazards
For Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Salaberry-de-Valleyfield faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield grades C− for hazard risk
For Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #355 of 507 in Quebec and #2,326 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Few fires near Salaberry-de-Valleyfield: 0.3% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps Salaberry-de-Valleyfield in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
With 2.4% forest fuel within 5 km and 2.8% within 25 km, the land around Salaberry-de-Valleyfield gives a fire little to burn.
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
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 513 towns, at 0.001% a year, well behind Mistissini (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, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield 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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Salaberry-de-Valleyfield
Flood studies whose area touches Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield 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.
Flood mapping is shown for Salaberry-de-Valleyfield to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s costliest hazard: $0.19 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.
Roughly 6.3 times the typical $0.030: Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s $0.19 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Quebec: Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s $0.19 against a median of $0.14, with La Pocatière 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.
13% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, which places it in the upper third.
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 Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
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 Salaberry-de-Valleyfield are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 8.2% over the guideline, the area around Salaberry-de-Valleyfield is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Salaberry-de-Valleyfield alone, so this card uses the figure for the Monteregie health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s area has 8.2%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
Neighbouring homes in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield
Alerts for Salaberry-de-Valleyfield 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 Salaberry-de-Valleyfield 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)
How Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salaberry-de-Valleyfield | Low | $0.19 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Coteau-du-Lac 7,839 · 5.8 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Les Coteaux 6,294 · 7.2 km | Low | $0.16 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka 2,162 · 7.7 km | Low | $0.19 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Les Cèdres 7,145 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague 2,536 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.19 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Zotique 10,445 · 11 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.2% | None listed |
The fire record around Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka is a touch heavier than Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’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 Salaberry-de-Valleyfield faces
Practical steps for Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’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. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s included.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Salaberry-de-Valleyfield sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield
Is Salaberry-de-Valleyfield at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield?
The area’s survey found 8.2% of 110 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
How is Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield’s Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Salaberry-de-Valleyfield flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield?
About $0.19 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
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).