Nova Scotia firefighter 50-50 winner receives close to $2M in largest draw ever

The holiday season got a lot more festive this week for Brandon Milligan of Berwick, N.S.

Milligan is the winner of the Nova Scotia Firefighters weekly 50-50 Rafflebox draw, which had a total jackpot of $3,877,015. Milligan got half of that — $1,938,508 — which was a new record for the popular draw.

Milligan purchased his tickets in support of the Berwick and District Volunteer Fire Department who automatically won a $1,000 bonus for the draw.

Ticket buyers are able to designate which local fire department they'd like to support and the top department is in Hammonds Plains, where wildfires swept through the area this spring. The local department received more than $107,000.

"Every fire department in Nova Scotia that has registered with Rafflebox is benefiting from their draws every week," said Mike Deagle, the incoming president of the Hammonds Plains Volunteer Firefighter Society.

While the amount of money designated to local fire departments varies, it can make a big difference in what upgrades departments can make to their equipment.

In a Facebook post this week, the Westchester Volunteer Fire Department in Cumberland County said it was able to buy new tools after receiving funds through the draw. (Westchester Volunteer Fire Department/Facebook)

"We have 282 fire agencies that are now involved and 90 per cent of them are volunteer fire departments," said Andrew Wallis, a lieutenant with the Amherst Fire Department and one of the administrators of the draw.

Rafflebox, the software company that delivers the draw, has a Halifax office with about 30 employees. The firefighter draws started just a few years ago.

"This all got started out of the pandemic when a lot of small rural departments had to use the proceeds just to keep the lights and heat on in their buildings," said Wallis. "It's really been great because they can now get resources that they wouldn't be able to fund any other way."

Wallis said in some instances a department will buy something new and then re-gift older equipment to another department that needs it.

In other cases, the funds can be used to purchase new equipment for training.

"We now have a shipping container training prop behind our station that will help our new members better understand structure fires," said Deagle.

These recently purchased containers have been set up behind the Hammonds Plains fire department and are being used for training purposes. (Daniel Jardine/CBC)

"It will give them the opportunity to practice and hone their skills so they can be very effective firefighters when arriving at an emergency scene."

While Thursday's draw was a record breaker, next week is expected to be another massive jackpot as the draws before and after Christmas are usually the biggest jackpots of the year.

Last year in late December, Kayla Eldridge of Falmouth, N.S., won $1.4 million.

"We expect our next draw [Dec. 28] to be right around $1 million," said Wallis. "There's probably going to be another millionaire in the province before 2024."

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