On December 8th, 2012, the Ridge Volunteer Rescue Squad held our annual installation. Cocktails began at 1730 at the Ridge Firehouse. At 1800 hours, the new administrative, line and auxiliary officers were sworn into their position by Shirley Copado, 1st Vice President of the Southern Maryland Volunteers Fireman's Association, and Darby Byrd, Secretary for the Southern Maryland Volunteer Fireman's Association. The members sworn in are:

Amy Raley - President
Greg Askew - Vice President
Ed Pratt - Secretary
Christy Bright - Treasurer
Jessica Titus-Snyder - BOD
Dave Barry - BOD
Matt Durkin - BOD
Frances Ann Cullison - BOD

Debbie Drury - Chief
Christy Merrell - Asst. Chief
Jannet Keister - Captain
David Morris - Lieutenant
Renee Boley - Lieutenant
Greg Askew - Lieutenant
Matt Durkin - Lieutenant
George Gatton - Safety Officer
Brian Evans - Chief Engineer
Joe Greer - Engineer
Jack Cullison - Engineer
Pat Webb - Training Officer
Dave Barry - Training Officer

Marsha Evans - Auxiliary President
JD Biscoe - Auxiliary Vice President
Darlene Wood - Auxiliary Treasurer
Marie Carroll - Auxiliary Secretary

After the swearing-in of the officers, a delicious dinner was prepared by the Ridge VFD Auxiliary. After dinner was completed, awards and proclamations were handed out to recognize the efforts of members throughout the year. The following awards were given out:

* LP Mercure received a plaque for his hard work and dedication on restoring our Cadillac over the last couple of years.
* Jack Cullison received a plaque for his hard work and dedication on the Cadillac project as well.
* Jack Cullison also took this time to present a gift to LP. The present was a five gallon jug. LP went on to explain that when Frances Ann and Jack took the Cadillac to the Maryland State Fireman's Association parade in June, it began to overheat from sitting idle in the parade line. Jack quickly sought out help from LP, who ran "as fast as he could" to find some water for the Cadillac. He found a bucket outside of a Holiday Inn. He "borrowed" the bucket and filled it up with water. Once the Cadillac got fresh water, it ran fine through the rest of the parade.
* President's award: Christy Bright
* Life membership: Jannet Keister
* 20 years of service: Pat Webb. Pat also received a hand-made scrap-book made by Assistant Chief Merrell and a proclamation from the County commissioners
* Presentations were made to the squad by the County commissioners.
* Appreciation awards were handed out to various mutual aid departments.
* The Joey Titus Leadership Award was given to Ed Pratt for his exhaustive work on the administrative side, as well as running many duty hours.
* Amy Raley, Mandy Purdy, George Gatton, Jannet Keister, Renee Boley and Kathy Keister all received life saving awards for their life saving efforts at an incident on November 17th.
* Rookie of the Year: Mandy Purdy
* Auxiliary member of the year: Cookie McElfresh
* Squad member of the year went to Pat Webb.