On Saturday, June 1st hundreds of people attended the Hampstead Volunteer Fire Company’s new fire station dedication. The ceremony started promptly at 10am being called to order by Lt. Gerald (JJ) Lynott, public information officer for HVFC. The ceremony began with the presentation of colors by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem sang by Abby Discusa and Abby Weaver of the Manchester Valley High School Choir. Lt. Lynott introduced Mr. Seth Shipley who served as Master of Ceremonies for the event.

Mr. Shipley introduced Rev Dr. Melissa Rudolph and Rev. John Rudolph of the St. John’s United Methodist Church who provided a blessing of the new station. Following the blessing Mr. Shipley provided opening remarks and introduced special guest and the elected officials in attendance.

HVFC President James Dwyer provided welcoming comments and an over of the new station project and capital campaign. Following President Dwyer was Chief Troy Hipsley who provided an overview of the state-of-the-art fire station, and the increased safety features the new station provides our members. Both President Dwyer and Chief Hipsley thanked the membership, the building committee and their families. There were several other speakers including Senator Chris West, Delegate Josh Stonko, Commissioner Ken Kiler and Hampstead Mayor Chris Nevin and Carroll County Department of Fire & EMS Chief Michael Robinson.

Mr. Charles Simpson, 2nd Vice President of the Maryland State Firemen’s Association presented a plaque on behalf of MSFA to President Dwyer recognizing the completion and opening of the new fire station.

Mr. Shipley then recognized several groups of HVFC members to include the administrative officers, operation officers, all members, Auxiliary officers and members, juniors and the special recognition of our oldest member

An overview of the building project and capital campaign was provided by Mr. Cole Brown and Mr. Mark Schaefer respectively. The refurbished bell which is proudly displayed in front of the new station was rang four times by Chief Engineer Don Love. The first ring was to remember our first fire station on Main St, the second ring was to honor the 2nd station on the current property, the third ring was for the new station opening today and the 4th and final ring was to remember and honor all HVFC members who are no longer with us. This was followed by a fire service style “ribbon cutting” which involved uncoupling of two sections of fire hose.

The next agenda item was a bonus special event, Mr. Todd Calhoun and his wife Mrs. Rebecca Calhoun graciously donated HVFC’s 1931 American LaFrance fire engine back to the fire company. Over the last several weeks a small group of members worked to get the engine running and polish all the original equipment that is still on the engine. Chief Hipsley provided an overview of the history of the engine then the committee drove the 1931 ALF fire engine into the new fire station taking its place in “Bay 1” to symbolize our history. Afterwards members participated in a fire service tradition of “pushing” Engine 21 into the new station.

After all the ceremonial items were completed, Chief Hipsley officially placed the new station at 1341 N. Main St in service over the main dispatch channel for Carroll County. The ceremony ended with closing comments and a benediction by HVFC Chaplain Kevin Hann.

Some of the new station features include:
• Five Drive through bays, each large enough for two engines
• Multiple rooms for equipment storage, maintenance, and cleaning
• Establishes a “Clean Environment” for personnel to live, train, eat, sleep
• Provides a buffer area to keep turnout gear, away from the Clean Environment
• Provides facilities for decontamination of turnout gear and tools
• Provides exhaust system to scrub and remove toxic fumes
• Training Room, Conference Rooms, Recreation facilities and Offices

A special thank you to Cathy Dwyer and Kathy Carroll for serving as our photographers for this special day.