Photo: Jean-Philippe Boulet · CC BY 3.0Wildfire low, radon 7.3%: how Wotton stands on hazards
For Wotton, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. NRCan expects $0.044 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Wotton, near the typical $0.030. Wotton grades B for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Wotton’s hazards
For Wotton, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Wotton faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Wotton grades B for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Wotton’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The radon share rests on 55 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 Wotton has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Wotton’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Wotton burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Fire has stayed at least 7.4 km from Wotton’s homes since 1986.
39% of the land within 5 km of Wotton is forest fuel, close to the 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
Near-zero burning puts Wotton with 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec, far below Mistissini 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Wotton, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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 Wotton
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Wotton: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Wotton, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Wotton.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Wotton’s homes are at risk.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Wotton: $0.044 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Earthquake losses in Wotton, $0.044 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (1.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.044, Wotton is below the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière is highest 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 32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Wotton.
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 Wotton 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).
Some radon around Wotton: 7.3% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 7.3% over the guideline, the area around Wotton is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Wotton alone, so this card uses the figure for the Estrie health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Wotton’s area has 7.3%, 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 Wotton’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 Wotton’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 Wotton
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Wotton; 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 Wotton, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Wotton
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wotton | Low | $0.044 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Saint-Georges-de-Windsor 1,034 · 9.1 km | Low | $0.051 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Val-des-Sources 7,303 · 9.2 km | Low | $0.044 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Danville 3,944 · 14 km | Low | $0.049 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Tingwick 1,567 · 17 km | Low | $0.047 | 0% | Yes |
Nowhere around Wotton burns more: Saint-Georges-de-Windsor, 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 Wotton faces
Practical steps for Wotton’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
- 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 Wotton.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Wotton is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Wotton.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Wotton’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Wotton
How is Wotton’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Wotton’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Wotton flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Wotton, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Wotton?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Wotton’s buildings lose $0.044 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Wotton?
The area’s survey found 7.3% of 55 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Wotton.
Is Wotton at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Wotton’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2015) is short of the level that counts.
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).