The following article has been reprinted with permission of The Baltimore Banner.
EMMITSBURG, Md. — For almost half a century, the tiny Western Maryland town of Emmitsburg has been known as the place that trains the nation’s firefighters. Home to the National Fire Academy, the town sees its population swell and businesses bustle when classes are in session.
Now, Emmitsburg faces an uncertain future. Early this month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency abruptly halted all instructor-led classes amid the Trump administration’s sweeping review of federal spending. An online catalog shows most courses remain canceled through April.
For weeks, firefighters have been vociferous in calling for the training to resume, questioning why the administration would risk leaving first responders less prepared. So far, they’ve received few answers.
“As a fire service, we take significant exception to the notion that our fire academy would be considered fraud, waste or abuse,” said Marc Bashoor, a retired Prince George’s County fire chief and former academy instructor.
Many of Emmitsburg’s elected officials back Trump’s shake-up of the federal government — the town voted to elect Trump by a 2-to-1 margin last November. But they also worry what the closure means for the nation’s firefighters and the town’s economy.
“We’re praying every day,” Emmitsburg Mayor Frank Davis said. A prolonged shutdown, he added, “could have a devastating effect for our little town.”
The move comes as the Trump administration threatens to abolish FEMA, which oversees the fire academy, and imposes freezes on hiring, disaster assistance and grant funding that have stalled the agency’s work.
A spokesperson for FEMA’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, said it was scaling back funding for what it deemed nonessential programs, including the academy.
“The bottom line is we are no longer paying for non-employee travel,” the spokesperson said. “We are only authorizing travel for mission critical programs. This isn’t one. Some of these classes are still available online.”
In the late 1970s, FEMA transformed a shuttered women’s college into the fire academy’s rural Frederick County campus, equipped with classrooms, labs, lodging and dining halls.
Today, first responders consider the academy essential for developing leaders, preparing for emergencies and sharing best practices. The academy trains 100,000 emergency personnel a year, many at its 107-acre hub in Emmitsburg, and offers the best continuing education many departments can afford, supporters say. Attendees are responsible only for food and travel costs.
For Emmitsburg, a town of less than 3,000 residents near the Pennsylvania border, the fire academy serves as a “backbone of the community,” Davis said.
The Ott House, a local family-run pub adorned with fire patches and helmets, regularly welcomes entire classes of firefighters for dinner. Co-owner Bobby Ott estimates the academy drives 25-30% of his business.
“They adopted us right away,” Ott said.
The campus is also one of the largest employers in northern Frederick County, providing hundreds of administrative, housekeeping, library and food service jobs. Some probationary employees were laid off but are now being rehired, Davis said.
Read the full article on The Baltimore Banner.
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