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Not some baa-ad joke: Firefighters secure wayward sheep near Md. line

In a social media post, the Carroll County Department of Fire & EMS just over the state line in Maryland, shared that firefighters there secured four wayward sheep on April 1.

Four lost sheep are seen after being herded into the engine bay of Lineboro Volunteer Fire Department on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Lineboro, Maryland. (Photo: USA Today Network)

It might have been April Fools Day, but firefighters at a firehouse along the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line arrived to their station to find wool, not fools.

In a social media post, the Carroll County Department of Fire & EMS just over the state line in Maryland, shared that firefighters there secured four wayward sheep on April 1.

When they’d arrived for their shifts at the Lineboro Volunteer Fire Department on Wednesday morning, they discovered “several sheep wandering close to and in the roadway” outside of the firehouse.

Faced with the four woolly and wayward visitors, the first responders leapt into action and herded the four sheep into the engine bay of their fire station to keep them out of harms way, the department shared.

“Not your typical morning,” the department said in the post. Officials there subsequently clarified that the sheep were not part of any April Fool’s prank.

The sheep were later safely reunited with their owners, according to the department.

Lineboro Volunteer Fire Department, a volunteer department routinely staffed with a contingent of career firefighters from the county department, is located in the small village of Lineboro along the Maryland-Pennsylvania border.

With the station located so close to the county border, the fire station routinely provides EMS and firefighting services to nearby portions of Manheim Township in southern York County.

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Patrick Berkery
Patrick Berkery Senior Newsletter Editor
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