Photo: Philippe Grégoire · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Scott is higher than in 87% of Canadian towns
Around Scott, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.098 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Scott grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Scott’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Scott: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Scott faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Scott grades D for hazard risk
The grade weighs Scott’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #436 of 507 in Quebec and #2,429 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around Scott has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Scott’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Scott is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Fire has stayed at least 16 km from Scott’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel covers 8.7% of the land close to Scott and 28% across 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
Mistissini has the highest burn rate in Quebec, 0.31% a year; around Scott, as around 144 of the 513 towns, it rounds to 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Scott is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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 Scott
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Scott: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Scott on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Scott; in Quebec, 45% of towns have one, below Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Scott.
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 Scott $0.098 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.098 per $1,000, Scott carries roughly 3.3 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Scott expects less, $0.098, and La Pocatière the most, $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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Scott, 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Scott’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
13% of homes tested around Scott are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Scott’s area, at 13%. Scott shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Scott’s area, at 13%, is above the median in Quebec (8.2%), and 0.6% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Scott among them; 4.6% 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.
The survey sampled homes around Scott; 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 Scott
Alerts for Scott 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 Scott 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 Scott
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott | Low | $0.098 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Bernard 2,680 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.10 | 13% | None listed |
| Sainte-Marie 13,873 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.065 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Isidore 3,550 · 7.7 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Elzéar 2,842 · 11 km | Low | $0.051 | 13% | None listed |
| Sainte-Hénédine 1,550 · 11 km | Low | $0.078 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Narcisse-de-Beaurivage 1,303 · 12 km | Low | $0.11 | 13% | None listed |
Scott’s low band tops its neighbours; Saint-Bernard is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Scott faces
What to do about the hazards Scott 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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Scott sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Scott’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Scott’s.
- 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 Scott floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Scott
How is Scott’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Scott’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Scott?
In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of 175 homes tested in Scott’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Scott at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Scott has burned since 1986, the last in 2018, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Scott?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Scott $0.098 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Scott flood?
Nothing is listed for Scott 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).