Photo: Jnicperron · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Valcourt: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
Around Valcourt, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Valcourt is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.041 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Valcourt’s survey area, 7.3% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Valcourt grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Valcourt’s hazards
For Valcourt, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Valcourt faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Valcourt grades B for hazard risk
For Valcourt, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 55 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Valcourt: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Valcourt’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Valcourt’s 0.000% is in the low band.
Nothing inside 5 km of Valcourt’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 23 km off.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Valcourt: 29% within 5 km and 26% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Valcourt is zero, as for 145 of the 514 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Valcourt is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Valcourt is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Valcourt, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Gouvernement du Québec holds the flood mapping that covers Valcourt (2004), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valcourt | Gouvernement du Québec | 2004 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Valcourt among them, below the 58% across Canada.
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 Valcourt.
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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Expected shaking damage in Valcourt: $0.041 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.041 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Valcourt is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.4 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Valcourt expects less, $0.041, 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.
Valcourt’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 43% 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 Valcourt 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).
Radon about average around Valcourt: 7.3% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Valcourt’s area 7.3%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Valcourt is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 7.3%, beside a median of 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 Valcourt’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.
Whatever Valcourt’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Estrie health region)
Where to get warnings in Valcourt
Alerts for Valcourt 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 Valcourt 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)
Hazards in the places around Valcourt
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valcourt | Low | $0.041 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Valcourt 1,081 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.054 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Racine 1,441 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.041 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Saint-Joachim-de-Shefford 1,552 · 17 km | Low | $0.057 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Durham-Sud 1,041 · 17 km | Low | $0.067 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Denis-de-Brompton 5,249 · 18 km | Low | $0.047 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Stukely-Sud 1,242 · 18 km | Low | $0.053 | 7.3% | None listed |
Nowhere around Valcourt burns more: Valcourt, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Valcourt faces
Practical steps for Valcourt’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. For Valcourt, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Valcourt’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Valcourt takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Valcourt.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Valcourt
Does Valcourt flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Valcourt; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Valcourt?
Expected earthquake damage in Valcourt comes to $0.041 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Valcourt’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Valcourt’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Valcourt at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Valcourt’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Valcourt?
7.3% of the 55 homes Health Canada tested around Valcourt topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).