Photo: Pofortin · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Wendake: 3 on record, latest by Ville de Québec
For Wendake, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.13 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 8.8% of homes tested in Wendake’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Wendake grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Wendake’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Wendake: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Wendake faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Wendake grades C for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Wendake’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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 Wendake: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Wendake’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps Wendake in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Fire has stayed at least 10 km from Wendake’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel covers 19% of the land close to Wendake and 24% across 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
Wendake burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 514 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; Wendake 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.
Wendake is on the flood map inventory: 3 studies, latest by Ville de Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Wendake: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Ville de Québec and others have studied flooding in areas that include Wendake: 3 studies, the latest from 2015.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ville-de-Québec | Ville de Québec | 2015 | final |
| Ville-de-Québec-Huronne-Wandat | Ville de Québec | 2015 | final |
| CUQ | Gouvernement du Québec | 1991 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Wendake is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2010s brought the most flood studies for Wendake (2 of 3), the first dating from the 1990s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Wendake.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Wendake’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Wendake $0.13 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Roughly 4.4 times the typical $0.030: Wendake’s $0.13 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Wendake, 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Wendake.
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 loss is to Wendake’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Wendake: 8.8% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 8.8% over the guideline, the area around Wendake is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Wendake, 8.8% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 2.5% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Wendake, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are 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.
One home in Wendake can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Capitale-Nationale health region
Weather and fire alerts for Wendake
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Wendake; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Wendake, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Wendake
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wendake | Low | $0.13 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Loretteville 15,653 · 1.5 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Émile 16,893 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Des Châtels 14,836 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Lac-Saint-Charles 9,985 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Neufchatel Est—Lebourgneuf 37,164 · 4.7 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Val-Bélair 30,003 · 5.1 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Wendake (low), with Loretteville next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Wendake faces
Practical steps for Wendake’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.
- 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Wendake’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Wendake’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Wendake until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Wendake without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Wendake
How is Wendake’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wendake’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Wendake at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Wendake’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2020) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Wendake?
The area’s survey found 8.8% of 160 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Wendake.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wendake?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Wendake’s buildings lose $0.13 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Wendake flood?
A flood study covers Wendake on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).