Supporters of the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg are concerned the organization won’t be able to offer the same level of training if it reopens, pending a review by FEMA of the academy’s spending.

The NFA is the only school in the US that offers advanced, specialized training for middle and top-level fire officers, and taught over ninety eight thousand students in 2021.

FEMA announced the shutdown of all on-campus classes on March 7, to the surprise of both students and teachers. The decision comes as FEMA is facing ongoing budget cuts from the Trump Administration.

Ken Willett, Executive Director of the North American Fire Training Directors (NAFTD), is concerned FEMA’s ongoing investigation into the academy’s spending will hurt the school. “If there’s a reduction in resources, and they have to make changes to what they are offering, then I think the challenge is going to be, who will be out there to fill that gap,” Willett said.

Other training centers like the NAFTD wouldn’t be able to teach some of the classes taught at the NFA. Willet explains this is due to the need for subject matter experts, a resource his organization hasn’t invested in.

The lack of overlap between the training offered by the NFA and other facilities is not unintentional. Willet explained the NFA and state fire academies agreed not to duplicate their classes. “We recognized each had a level of expertise in curriculum to provide, and we opted not to compete with each other by designing and offering the same curriculum,” Willet said.

With the US’s only advanced level fire academy closed, hundreds of students are left to face consequences.

The NFA provides free training for firefighters from across the US, but Willett says coming to Emmitsburg for a two-week class is a major investment of time. “That individual firefighter had to reschedule his time and his personal life to be able to accommodate being able to go to the National [Fire] Academy,” Willet said.

Time isn’t the only consequence, Willett explained, as the NFA’s closure is preventing firefighters from earning important certificates and completing other job requirements.

Even if the NFA is reopened without a reduction to its funding, Willett is concerned the process of hiring new part time contractors to teach at the school may cause weeks, or even months of delay.