Ready to volunteer?
Call us at 902-490-4968 or email us at HRM_EMO@halifax.ca for more information on volunteering with a Joint Emergency Management (JEM) Team in your area, or read below for more information.
Regional emergency response
The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Emergency Management office supports all communities in times of emergency and disaster through teams of trained, dedicated volunteers.
Emergencies and disasters have the potential to disrupt our lives in unprecedented ways, often leaving us needing support during power outages or even displacement. Knowing which community groups are offering assistance ahead of time is just one of the ways that we can better prepare ourselves. The municipal Emergency Management office supports communities through various programs before, during and after disaster strikes.
While the municipal Emergency Operations Centre works diligently to ensure the municipality's infrastructure is functional and able to provide critical services, dedicated teams of Joint Emergency Management (JEM) volunteers to offer support by setting up Comfort Centres where you can receive up-to-date information, assistance with food, warmth and access to power during emergencies. JEM volunteers are experienced and highly trained community members ready to help you and your neighbours when they need it most.
In the critical hours following a crisis, while local and provincial response agencies are dealing with the immediate and urgent needs of the municipality, residents in affected communities need to be prepared to help themselves and assist their neighbours, who the event may have seriously impacted.
Joint Emergency Management (JEM) is a concept developed by the Halifax Regional Municipality's Emergency Management Office (EMO) to allow community organizations to prepare for and respond quickly to emergencies.
JEM teams are all community volunteers. EMO will activate JEM Support Centres (JSC) to coordinate humanitarian response to the JEM coverage area in times of crisis. These centres are facilities where trained individuals can meet to provide local input to the Emergency Operations Centre, located in Dartmouth.
We are currently recruiting JEM members for parts of our municipality. Please call 902-490-4968 or email us at hrm_emo@halifax.ca for more information
There are five such JEMs in the municipality:
- Eastern Shore
- Musquodoboit Valley
- Riverlake and District
- Sheet Harbour and Area
- Western Region
- Mainland Peninsula North
- Mainland Peninsula South
- Chebucto
- Dartmouth
- Mulgrave
- Preston
- Sackville-Bedford
When are JEM meetings?
JEM Regions meet at different times. Drop-ins are welcome and encouraged.
if the team you want to join is not listed below call 902-490-4968 or email us at hrm_emo@halifax.ca!
Eastern Shore: 7 to 8:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month at the Search and Rescue building at #15688, Hwy 7, Head of Chezzetcook.
Musquodoboit Valley: 7 p.m. on the last Monday of each month upstairs in the Middle Musquodoboit Fire Station.
Sheet Harbour: 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month in the upstairs office at the Sheet Harbour Fire Station or the Eastern Shore Memorial Hospital.
Western Region: 6:30 pm on the second Wednesday of each month. Location to be determined. Reach out for more details.
Mainland Peninsula North: 6:30 pm on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Canada Games Centre, 26 Thomas Raddall Drive Community Centre of Arts and Crafts Room.
JEM Volunteer Map
Auxiliary Telecommunications Service
The Auxiliary Telecommunications Services (ATS) provides EMO with trained telecommunications operators in support of, or to augment, telecommunications systems normally used by responding agencies when regular systems become damaged or overloaded by an emergency incident or a disaster.
The ATS concept exists to:
- train volunteers to handle important message traffic in a uniform and professional manner
- establish a call-out system to rapidly deploy telecommunications support assets when activated by EMO
- maintain, test, and utilize parallel telecommunications systems.
- support JEM sites and comfort centres as required
- participate in telecommunications exercises in order to enhance operator skills and to test redundant systems
- provide or augment telecommunications at an incident, or other sites as directed.
Please call 902-490-4968 or email hrm_emo@halifax.ca for more information
Ground Search And Rescue (GSAR)
Search and Rescue teams in Nova Scotia are manned entirely by volunteers.
They are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to respond to lost person incidents in wilderness and remote settings.
GSAR teams can be activated during times of natural disaster to assist local authorities.
If you are interested in learning more about volunteering with Search and Rescue, please contact your local team.