Additionally, the new Engine comes equipped with a compressed air foam system, which Yingling Jr. said is important as it allows the Engine to have more fire-fighting ability. Another benefit of the new Engine is that the layout and functionality is similar to that of the old Engine, so Yingling Jr. said he doesn’t expect there to be much of a training curve while adjusting to the new Engine. The new Engine has already been involved in fighting at least two fires and Yingling Jr. said that he was quite pleased with the performance of the new Engine. The company worked with Emmitsburg-based dealer Bob Rosensteele, who aided the company with design and build specifications.

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the company was not able to hold a proper community celebration for the new Engine. Last spring, the Emmitsburg Vigilant Hose Company received a new Engine and held a community celebration to welcome the new Engine to the company. The ceremony included a traditional "Housing of the new Engine", during which members of the company and special guests pushed the new Engine into the quarters, signifying it’s official entry into the fleet.

While Yingling Jr. said that his priority wasn’t a ceremony, but rather "getting the new Engine into service as quickly as possible", it nonetheless would have been nice for the Harney community to have been able to properly celebrate the new addition to the Fire Company’s fleet.

Elsewhere in the local area, the Graceham Fire Company has also felt a significant impact from the pandemic to an important event: their 60th anniversary celebration. 2020 marks sixty years since the incorporation of the Graceham Volunteer Fire Company, but all in-person celebrations have been put on hold. This included the annual awards banquet, which was cancelled. Instead, awards have been handed out to members without the usual recognition and pomp and circumstance. However, Val Kilby of the Graceham Volunteer Fire Company said that the sadder event for the company was the cancellation of the county-level awards banquet. "An elderly member who was nominated for a hall of fame award would have been able to receive it in person," Kilby said, "had COVID not destroyed this year. Unfortunately, that member passed away (non-COVID related) before the award could be given to him."

In addition to Graceham, the Fairfield Fire & EMS also saw the cancellation of their awards banquet, which was scheduled for the second week of March. Fortunately, awards were given out at the most recent in-person meeting in early October, but it still didn’t come with the same formality and recognition as usual.

While some companies saw their 2019 Awards Banquets cancelled, the bigger issue looming is the upcoming 2020 Awards Banquets season. The earliest ceremonies usually begin in November, with the last ones wrapping up in March. No one from any department seemed particularly optimistic about the prospect of holding a 2020 Awards Banquet in-person in the standard format. "Our banquet is scheduled for January currently," Yingling Jr. said of Harney’s planned celebration, "and while nothing is official yet, I find it unlikely we will be able to hold this event as scheduled."

Yet another casualty of COVID-19 was the cancellation of all carnivals in the area. Fortunately for the many departments, some of the funds were able to be recouped via federal and state acts. Yingling Jr. explained that the CARES Act enabled the Harney department to recoup some of their losses from the carnival, while the Fairfield Department also received funds from a grant to cover some of their losses. Nonetheless, the funds received from the state and federal governments did not cover all of the losses incurred from the cancellation of the carnivals.

Elsewhere, carnivals were also cancelled in Rocky Ridge, Taneytown, and Thurmont (both the Fire Company’s and Ambulance Company’s carnivals). The biggest loss of all due to the cancellations of the carnivals was felt by the local communities and families. Carnivals are an important tradition to local communities and something families and young children look forward to each spring and summer. That was unfortunately taken away this year and those memories can never be replaced; families and young children will just have to wait until 2021 for carnivals to return.

Also included in the cancellations was the annual Emmitsburg Spring Fling. The Vigilant Hose Company took diligent efforts to try to hold the event, including delaying the event to the fall and rebranding it as the ‘Fall Bash’. Unfortunately, despite waiting as long as possible and after considering every option, the event had to be fully cancelled for 2020.

Financially, the Frederick County Government was able to provide emergency relief funds to the Vigilant Hose Company to help offset some losses, but once again, this does not make up for the loss felt by the community. "The Spring Fling has been a very good fundraiser for us over the years," Spokesperson of the Vigilant Hose Company Tim Clarke said, "but far more disappointing is the loss to the community. The Spring Fling has always been an event that allows for members of the community to reconnect with old friends and school mates throughout the Emmitsburg and Thurmont area. This event is always a fun event from that perspective and we are very proud of being able to provide the location for the community connection. We are hopeful we can offer this event again in 2021 and we think the community will be looking forward to it as well."

Besides carnivals, many other fundraising events have had to either cancelled or modified to accommodate COVID restrictions. Bingos, which are put on by most local fire departments, have had to be cancelled due to COVID restrictions for many months. Some locations, such as the Thurmont Ambulance Company and the Emmitsburg Vigilant Hose Company have been able to safely resume bingos.

However, in other locations, such as in Fairfield, bingos have still not been able to resume. "There has not been bingo in Fairfield since mid March," Sarah Ginn of the Fountaindale Volunteer Fire Department said, "under the current restrictions in Pennsylvania, bingo has not restarted at this time for Fairfield. We have had to create other fundraising ideas to make up for the loss of bingo income. To-go dinners are currently being sold (drive-up style) every Thursday at Fairfield Fire & EMS from 4:30-7:00 p.m. More details and menus available on our Facebook pages."