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In between stands selling pizza and hand-dipped ice cream, two black-and-white sketches illustrate the reason why the Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company Carnival is held each year.
Under the carnival's food pavilion on Monday, the fire company displayed professional drawings of its newest equipment — a 2,000-gallon engine-tanker and a mini pumper that cost $805,864 in total.
Below the drawings, a type-written note from the company's fire chief, Matt Staley, explained that the company will pay for the engine-tanker and mini pumper in full upon delivery in the fall, thanks in part to proceeds from the annual carnival.
According to Vaughn Zimmerman, chairman of the carnival committee, Walkersville's carnival typically raises more than $80,000.
"We need to be able to do this," he said of the carnival.
On Monday, Zimmerman and a group of volunteers inside the banquet hall were busy loading hot slices of roast beef, fried chicken and ham-flecked green beans into trays for the carnival's $10, all-you-can-eat buffet dinner, held nightly.
The carnival started Monday and continues through Saturday at the fire company's carnival grounds on Frederick Street.
Now in its 70th year, the Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company carnival is one of the company's many fundraisers, including a weekly bingo, raffles, donations and commission earned from Martin's Catering, which rents its fire hall for events.
"Our fundraisers go to pay for all the other items we need," said Jim Graham, company treasurer. According to Graham, the company receives more than one-third of its $300,000 budget from Frederick County.
The county pays for fuel, insurance, breathing apparatus for firefighters and vehicle maintenance, Staley said, while the volunteer company pays for new fire engines, hoses, tools and a share of the building's utility costs.
The Walkersville fire company owns utility and duty vehicles, a fire engine and a ladder truck, known among the company's 55 active volunteer firefighters as a "quint" for its five capabilities — aerial and ground ladders, hose, pump and water, Staley noted.
The company previously had a rehabilitated 20-year-old, engine-tanker, he added, which it sold to a fire company in Pennsylvania.
According to Staley, the Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company responds to an average of 600 calls per year in Frederick County and surrounding counties.
"We run everywhere, especially with our ladder truck," Staley said. "There's not a lot of ladder trucks here in the county."
When the company receives the new engine-tanker, volunteer firefighters responding to a house fire will be able to pump 150 gallons per minute with one basic hand line, Staley said.
The purpose of the fire company is to support the community, Staley said. In addition to the annual summer carnival, the Walkersville fire company hosts a Santa Claus parade and an open house during Walkersville Day in May.
E-mail Katherine Mullen at kmullen@gazette.net.
Walkersville Volunteer Fire Co. Carnival
-4:30-10:30p.m., today through Saturday
-Carnival grounds, 79 W. Frederick St.
-Fireworks at 10:15 p.m., today (rain date Friday)
-301-600-9110; www.walkersvillefire.com
