Annapolis County Ground Search & Rescue

***FEBRUARY FIRST AID FUNDRAISER*** Please support our team by purchasing First Aid Kits and Equipment via Canadian Safety Supplies!! This is an online, contact-free fundraiser. Simply select your item(s) from the options pictured, tally up your total and send an etransfer to [email protected] with the security word FIRSTAID. In the message box of the etransfer, list your chosen items and your contact info. We'll have a central pick-up location when the order comes in, and if you are unable at that time, we will deliver to you. 2021 is our 45th year of serving the community!! We appreciate your continued support and would be lost without you!

Heads up looking like some weather coming Sunday night into Monday.

A great News story for all Retired Volunteers, Thank You Nova Scotia!!

Environment Canada is predicting a round of bad weather starting Tuesday morning. Be sure to stock up before then! Your household should always have a 72 hour stash of essentials.

Here's a handy website that will tell you what all the snow plows in the province are up to, in close-to-real time. Click on the map to activate it, then zoom in on your location and the blue arrows will change into little plows, sanders and graders! We use similar technology to keep track of our searchers when they are looking for a lost person. https://novascotia.ca/tran/winter/plowtracker.asp

ACGSARA 2020 Year in review Two weeks after our annual general meeting in March, ACGSARA went from understanding general search terms, to learning and understanding new phrases like: Pandemic Planning for a Non-Profit Organization, Safety Plans to protect our Searchers during searches that we attended, all to deal with Covid 19 and how it would impact us. We would like to thank the County of Annapolis and the Town of Middleton, for the additional financial support during the ...early months of the Covid shut down. This generous help allowed our team to get vehicles inspected and the much-needed PPE that was now required to safely protect us from Covid. We would like to thank all of you for your support over the past year and our teams fundraising efforts. Without your support we would not be here today. We would like to personally thank, Valley Credit Union and Nova Scotia Ground Search and Rescue for their generous donations that will help us meet the Covid Challenges in 2021. As for our training in 2020, we have made adjustments as to how we provide training to our members with Online sessions and when safe, in person modules that allow ACGSARA to be ready to respond. This past year has been very trying for all Volunteer Emergency Services in our province. We thank everyone for all the kind words of encouragement and well wishes for the past year. Our members remain dedicated and prepared for whatever 2021 is about to challenge us with. Everyone at ACGSARA sends good wishes to you all for a Safe and Happy New Year.

A very important message.

THAT SINKING FEELING Just down the road from my home, a boat went down in darkness. Chief William Saulis was a scallop dragger out of Digby, sunk before dawn on... Tuesday morning. I went up to Hillsburn to see the search and rescue working, shivering figures back and forth from the shore with their wind-burnt faces. It was clear pretty quick that no one survived, none of those six fishermen had any chance against the cold water and weather. Bodies were all they could hope to find, and not much luck there either. It's tough to describe the feeling, but it's a stinging reminder, that a lot of my neighbors make their living doing a deadly job. I can't say anything about them, the men I never knew myself. But when they go, it feels like some part of us goes with them. It's that sinking feeling of love going under, and everyone they left coming on to a cold Christmas. There's a bite that settles in with nightfall, and it won't let loose for a while. December 15, 2020 Hillsburn, Nova Scotia Year 14, Day 4783 of my daily journal.

Just a reminder there will be a Nova Scotia wide test of the Alert Ready Emergency Alert System. on November 25th, at 1:55 PM AST. You can learn more about public alerting by going to AlertReady.ca

A few more photos from today's training session. SMART, RTT, Ozi, GPS and clue awareness covered.

Great day of training for our overhead team and searchers looking for clues.

Annapolis County Ground Search and Rescue will be conducting a Mock Search on Saturday, November 14 2020 between the hours of 12 noon and 5pm. We will be set up at the corner of Marshall and Victoria St in Middleton

Don't forget to change your clock back tonight and check your smoke and Carbon monoxide alarm batteries.

The Middleton Fire Department regrets to inform all the trick or treaters this year that truck rides have been canceled due to the restrictions associated with COVID-19. However, we will still be passing out treats at the fire hall. Please respect social distancing and wear a mask.