1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

As your constituent and a volunteer firefighter I am contacting you to express great concern about the March 7 decision to indefinitely close the National Fire Academy (NFA). The closure of the NFA is a big loss to the nation’s fire service that now lacks the specialized training it requires to face its ever-increasing mission. The NFA offers the fire service unique specialized and executive training like the U.S. Army and Navy War Colleges. Each year it provides training for approximately 100,000 fire and emergency service personnel. Additionally, access to training is a significant challenge for many volunteer fire departments. Trainers are in short supply in rural areas, and smaller fire departments often are not able to do a lot of specialized training in-house. The NFA provides courses and trainers to state and local fire training academies that are unable to provide such training themselves and broadens these academies’ reach in rural areas. Please urge the administration to re-open the NFA without delay. We are confident that the Administration will meet the same conclusion as the fire service about the NFA’s essentiality after reviewing the academy’s vital course offerings.