Photo: Miro Denck · CC BY-SA 4.0Sutton’s hazards at a glance: a low wildfire record and 8.2% of area homes over the radon guideline
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Sutton: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Sutton is middling, $0.045 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Sutton a grade of B−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Sutton’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sutton: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sutton faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Sutton grades B− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Sutton’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #93 of 507 in Quebec and #1,710 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Sutton: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Sutton’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Sutton’s 0.000% is in the low band.
The 5 km ring around Sutton’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 6.4 km out.
13% of the land within 5 km of Sutton is forest fuel, close to the 15% 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 513
To three decimals the burn rate around Sutton is zero, as for 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec, while Mistissini reaches 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Sutton is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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 Sutton
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sutton: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Sutton, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Sutton is not among them.
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 Sutton 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.”
Expected shaking damage in Sutton: $0.045 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Sutton’s $0.045 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.5 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Sutton expects less, $0.045, 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.
Sutton sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 32% 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).
The model counts damage to Sutton’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).
8.2% of homes tested around Sutton are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
The survey area of Sutton reads 8.2%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Sutton shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of 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; Sutton’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.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Sutton’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 Sutton; 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 Sutton
Alerts for Sutton 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 Sutton to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Sutton’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton | Low | $0.045 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Frelighsburg 1,168 · 15 km | Low | $0.059 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Dunham 3,632 · 15 km | Low | $0.072 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Potton 2,201 · 16 km | Low | $0.038 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Cowansville 17,269 · 16 km | Low | $0.089 | 8.2% | None listed |
| Lac-Brome 6,307 · 16 km | Low | $0.051 | 8.2% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Sutton (low), with Frelighsburg next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sutton faces
Practical steps for Sutton’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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Sutton.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Sutton is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Sutton’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Sutton’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sutton
Is Sutton at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Sutton’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2021), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sutton?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Sutton $0.045 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Sutton’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sutton grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Sutton?
8.2% of the 110 homes Health Canada tested around Sutton topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Sutton flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Sutton (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).