Photo: Chicoutimi · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazards in Stanstead: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 7.3% of tested homes
Wildfire barely registers for Stanstead, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Stanstead as in most places, at $0.038 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Stanstead grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Stanstead’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Stanstead: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
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
Seismic risk and radon set Stanstead’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #49 of 507 in Quebec and #1,403 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 55 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Stanstead: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Stanstead’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Stanstead at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
More forest grows near Stanstead’s homes (41% within 5 km) than across 25 km (36%).
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 Stanstead, 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; Stanstead 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 Stanstead
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Stanstead: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Stanstead on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
No study touches Stanstead; 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 mapping is shown for Stanstead 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Stanstead: $0.038 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Stanstead’s $0.038 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.3 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.038, Stanstead is below the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière is 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.
Stanstead sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 45% expect more shaking damage.
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 model counts damage to Stanstead’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
7.3% of homes tested around Stanstead are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
7.3% of tested homes around Stanstead were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Stanstead, 7.3% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as 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.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Stanstead’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit 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.
The survey sampled homes around Stanstead; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Estrie health region
Weather and fire alerts for Stanstead
Alerts for Stanstead 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Stanstead to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Stanstead’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanstead | Low | $0.038 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Stanstead 1,171 · 14 km | Low | $0.039 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Ayer's Cliff 1,284 · 19 km | Low | $0.042 | 7.3% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Stanstead (low), with Stanstead next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Stanstead faces
Practical steps for Stanstead’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.
- 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Stanstead’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Stanstead’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Stanstead
Is Stanstead at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Stanstead since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Stanstead’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Stanstead grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Stanstead flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Stanstead (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Stanstead?
7.3% of the 55 homes Health Canada tested around Stanstead topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Stanstead?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Stanstead $0.038 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).