The Joint Council seeks independence for the NFA and USFA
The National Fire Academy and the U.S. Fire Administration need a better home, the Joint Council of National Fire Service Organizations is arguing.
Worried that Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Julius Becton, Jr., “has shown an insensitivity to the overall needs of the American Fire Service,” the Joint Council is asking the White House and Congress to put the NFA and USFA under an independent council or commission.
After delays brought on by a concerned Maryland Congressional delegation during much of the past year, FEMA got the go-ahead to reorganize its training functions—including those of the NFA—under an Office of Training. But it agreed to leave the USFA headquarters at Emmitsburg.
Several years ago, FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute moved in with the fire programs at Emmitsburg. The Joint Council’s resolution asks that the campus be returned to the NFA’s control.
