Emmitsburg Mayor Frank Davis voted for Donald Trump in hopes he would cut federal spending. Now Davis hopes those cuts don't include the permanent cancellation of classes at the National Fire Academy, which is part of the town's identity and helps drive its economy. Davis is also a chief at Emmitsburg's firehouse, known as the Vigilant Hose Company. Justin T. Gellerson for NPR hide caption
EMMITSBURG, Md. - Frank Davis saw a lot of waste during his decades in the federal government. In November, he voted for Donald Trump to get rid of it. So far, Davis likes a lot of what he's seen.
"I'm probably gonna get shot for this, but he is doing what he said he was going to do," says Davis, who serves as mayor of this town of about 3,000 people in Western Maryland, just south of Gettysburg, Pa.
In March, the Trump administration suddenly cancelled in-person classes at the National Fire Academy here, which trains the country's firefighters. The academy is not only a big part of Emmitsburg's identity, it also helps drive the local economy.
Davis says the administration is reviewing the academy's operations, and he is hopeful it will restore classes. If not, he says, he'll see the administration somewhat differently.
"It will change my outlook to say that they're not being fair," says Davis, who also serves as emergency medical services captain at the local firehouse, known as the Vigilant Hose Company. "They're just going in to cut and not caring what they cut."
Emmitsburg voted for President Trump in November. NPR interviewed about two dozen people here. Almost all of them voted for Trump, and many said his plans to cut federal spending were a key attraction. Now, they say they are puzzled as to why the administration would cancel national training for firefighters.
Ott House, an Emmitsburg pub, is a home-away-from-home for firefighters training at the nearby National Fire Academy. Visiting firefighters have come here for decades, and thousands of patches from their departments now line the pub's walls. Justin T. Gellerson for NPR hide caption
Denis Onieal is also puzzled. He served for two decades as superintendent of the academy, which he says trained 8,000 to 10,000 firefighters on campus each year. The academy, often referred to as the national war college for firefighting, offers courses in everything from leadership and management for fire chiefs to how to conduct fire, arson and explosion investigations.
"The National Fire Academy takes men and women out of their comfort zone and ... exposes them to real serious tragedies, and forces them to work through ... what kind of decisions they're going to make," says Onieal, who lives over the border in Pennsylvania.
If the courses aren't restored, Onieal says Americans will pay.
"We're on a very long, slow path to self-destruction," he says. "Every day that this training is unavailable to the locals is one day closer to a disaster they can't handle or won't know how to handle."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency oversees the academy, which pays for firefighters to come to Emmitsburg. When NPR asked why classes were cancelled, FEMA did not answer directly, but suggested in a statement that it had to do with travel costs.
"The bottom line is we are no longer paying for non-employee travel," the statement read. "We are only authorizing travel for mission critical programs, this isn't one. Some of these classes are still available online."
The fire academy website does show some upcoming in-person courses. They've been left up for now in case the administration changes its mind.
The National Fire Academy sits inside this complex in Emmitsburg in Western Maryland. Thousands of firefighters come here for training each year, but the Trump administration cancelled in-person classes in early March seemingly to cut costs. Justin T. Gellerson for NPR hide caption
John Beck, who serves as fire chief of the Waynesboro Volunteer Fire Department nearby in Pennsylvania, had applied for a weekend leadership and development course at the academy in July. It would be his first one, but he doesn't expect it'll happen now. He also says online