Photo: Groupe de recherche en art du Québec · CC BY-SA 4.0Wildfire low, radon 7.3%: how Stanstead stands on hazards
Around Stanstead, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Stanstead as in most places, at $0.039 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Stanstead a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Stanstead’s hazards
For Stanstead, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Stanstead faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Stanstead grades B for hazard risk
The grade weighs Stanstead’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 55 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.
Little of the land around Stanstead has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Stanstead’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Stanstead fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Stanstead’s homes came within 20 km, never inside 5 km.
More forest grows near Stanstead’s homes (41% within 5 km) than across 25 km (31%).
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
Little or nothing burns around Stanstead in a typical year; 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec share that, and Mistissini leads at 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Stanstead, burning 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 Stanstead
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Stanstead: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Stanstead on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Stanstead.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Stanstead.
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.”
Expected shaking damage in Stanstead: $0.039 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Stanstead’s ground: $0.039 against a typical $0.030, 1.3 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Stanstead’s $0.039 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.
Stanstead’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 45% of the 2,611 towns 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Stanstead 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).
Some radon around Stanstead: 7.3% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Stanstead’s area 7.3%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Stanstead’s area has 7.3%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Stanstead with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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 Stanstead 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). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Estrie health region
Where to get warnings in Stanstead
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Stanstead; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Stanstead come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Stanstead
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanstead | Low | $0.039 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Ayer's Cliff 1,284 · 11 km | Low | $0.042 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Stanstead 2,994 · 14 km | Low | $0.038 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Magog 30,764 · 16 km | Low | $0.047 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Bolton-Est 1,337 · 16 km | Low | $0.036 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Austin 1,959 · 18 km | Low | $0.042 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley 2,938 · 18 km | Low | $0.038 | 7.3% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Stanstead has the most fire on record (low); Ayer's Cliff follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Stanstead faces
What to do about the hazards Stanstead 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
- 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 Stanstead.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Stanstead 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 Stanstead until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Stanstead’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Stanstead
Does Stanstead flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Stanstead’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Stanstead’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Stanstead B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Stanstead?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Stanstead’s buildings lose $0.039 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Stanstead at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Stanstead since 1986 (last in 2016); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Stanstead?
Around Stanstead, 55 survey homes were tested and 7.3% 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).