Photo: R. L'Heureux · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Val-Alain is higher than in 91% of Canadian towns
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Val-Alain, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.13 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Val-Alain a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Val-Alain’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Val-Alain: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Val-Alain faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Val-Alain: D
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Val-Alain with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Val-Alain: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Val-Alain’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Val-Alain, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Val-Alain’s homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 15 km away.
Forest fuel is denser close to Val-Alain (49% within 5 km) than further out (37% 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 514
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Val-Alain, as for 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops the list 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.
Val-Alain shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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 Val-Alain
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Val-Alain: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Val-Alain, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Val-Alain 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 Val-Alain 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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Val-Alain $0.13 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Val-Alain loses $0.13, 4.5 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Val-Alain, at $0.13, is right beside it, and La Pocatière tops the list 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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 22% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Val-Alain.
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 Val-Alain’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 Val-Alain are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Val-Alain: 13% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town. Val-Alain doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Val-Alain than in most towns in Quebec: 13% over the guideline (8.2% is typical), 0.6% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Val-Alain, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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 share describes the area, not a house: in Val-Alain as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Val-Alain
Alerts for Val-Alain 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Val-Alain are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Val-Alain’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Val-Alain | Low | $0.13 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Janvier-de-Joly 1,204 · 11 km | Low | $0.13 | 13% | None listed |
| Lyster 1,679 · 12 km | Low | $0.12 | 0% | None listed |
| Laurierville 1,368 · 15 km | Low | $0.095 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Flavien 1,682 · 18 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | None listed |
| Laurier-Station 2,838 · 18 km | Low | $0.14 | 13% | None listed |
Saint-Janvier-de-Joly (low) has the heaviest fire record of Val-Alain’s neighbours, and Val-Alain (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Val-Alain faces
What to do about the hazards Val-Alain 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.
- 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
- 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 Val-Alain’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 Val-Alain floods.
- 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 Val-Alain sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Val-Alain’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 Val-Alain
How big is the earthquake risk in Val-Alain?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Val-Alain’s buildings lose $0.13 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Val-Alain?
Around Val-Alain, 175 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Val-Alain’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Val-Alain D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Val-Alain flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Val-Alain’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is Val-Alain at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Val-Alain since 1986 (last in 2022); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
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).