Photo: Félix Mathieu-Bégin · CC BY 4.0A flood study covers Victoriaville: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
Wildfire isn’t Victoriaville’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.001% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.11 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Victoriaville a grade of B+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Victoriaville’s hazards
For Victoriaville, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Victoriaville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Victoriaville grades B+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Victoriaville with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #24 of 507 in Quebec and #897 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 58 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 Victoriaville has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Victoriaville’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Victoriaville fire takes 0.001% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Nothing inside 5 km of Victoriaville’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 16 km off.
Forest thickens with distance from Victoriaville: 7.3% of the land within 5 km, 25% 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
Victoriaville burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 513 towns in Quebec; the leader, 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Victoriaville stays low, with 92%.
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.
Victoriaville is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Victoriaville, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Victoriaville, the newest Gouvernement du Québec’s from 2006, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victoriaville | Gouvernement du Québec | 2006 | final |
| Victoriaville-Arthabaska | Gouvernement du Québec | 1984 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Victoriaville has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Victoriaville has come in steps: 2 studies from the 1980s to the 2000s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Victoriaville.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Victoriaville floods.
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.
High seismic risk in Victoriaville: $0.11 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Victoriaville loses $0.11, 3.5 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Victoriaville, at $0.11, is below the median of $0.14.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Victoriaville sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 25% 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).
For Victoriaville the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Victoriaville: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Mauricie et Centre-du-Quebec health region
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Victoriaville’s area, at 0%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Victoriaville (0%) than in 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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Victoriaville; 63% 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 Victoriaville’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).
Where to get warnings in Victoriaville
Alerts for Victoriaville 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 Victoriaville 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 Victoriaville’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoriaville | Low | $0.11 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Christophe-d'Arthabaska 3,307 · 4.7 km | Low | $0.054 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Valère 1,187 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.10 | 0% | Yes |
| Saint-Albert 1,744 · 11 km | Low | $0.10 | 0% | None listed |
| Saint-Norbert-d'Arthabaska 1,291 · 12 km | Low | $0.059 | 0% | None listed |
| Warwick 4,939 · 12 km | Low | $0.066 | 0% | None listed |
| Princeville 6,400 · 14 km | Low | $0.11 | 0% | None listed |
Nowhere around Victoriaville burns more: Saint-Christophe-d'Arthabaska, 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 Victoriaville faces
What to do about the hazards Victoriaville 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Victoriaville 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 Victoriaville until then.
- 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 Victoriaville.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Victoriaville’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Victoriaville
Is radon a problem in Victoriaville?
Around Victoriaville, 58 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Victoriaville at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Victoriaville since 1986 (last in 2022); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Victoriaville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Victoriaville grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Victoriaville flood?
A flood study covers Victoriaville on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Victoriaville?
Expected earthquake damage in Victoriaville comes to $0.11 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).