National Fire Academy
The National Fire Academy is one of two schools in the United States operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Operated and governed by the United States Fire Administration as part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the NFA is the country’s preeminent federal fire training and education institution. The original purpose of the NFA as detailed in a 1973 report to Congress was to "function as the core of the Nation's efforts in fire service education—feeding out model programs, curricula, and information..."
The NFA shares its Emmitsburg campus with the Emergency Management Institute operated by the Directorate of Preparedness branch of FEMA. The campus also includes the Learning Resource Center library, the National Fire Data Center, and the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial.
The campus was the original site of Saint Joseph’s College, a Catholic college for women from 1809 until 1973. It was purchased by the U.S. Government in 1979 for use as the NETC.
In 2008, the National Fire Academy trained over 122,000 first responders from all 50 U.S. states.
History
Senator Hugh Scott, a Republican from Pennsylvania, first proposed the creation of a National Fire Academy in March of 1973. Scott was the co-sponsor of the 1968 “Fire and Safety Research Act.” Citing a hotel fire in Tyrone, Pennsylvania that killed 12 persons, Scott advocated for “broader and uniform training on a national scale.” Fire Chief Magazine, March 1973In 1971, President Richard Nixon assembled a 20-member blue-ribbon panel of experts in the field of fire protection to study the country’s alarming fire problem and the related needs of the American fire services. Chaired by Richard E. Bland, an associate professor at Pennsylvania State University, the group became known as the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control. The NCFPC and its staff published a report titled America Burning on May 4, 1973. Included in the report was the NCFPC’s recommendation to establish a permanent U.S. Fire Administration “to provide a national focus for the Nation’s fire problem, and to promote a comprehensive program with adequate funding to reduce life and property loss from fire.”
The report further identified several deficiencies in the area of quality fire training across the country including the absence of a systematic method to exchange information among fire educators and fire agencies. In response to those deficiencies, the NCFPC made four specific recommendations:
- The establishment of a National Fire Academy to provide specialized training in areas important to the fire services and to assist state and local jurisdictions in their training programs.
- That the proposed National Fire Academy assume the role of developing, gathering, and disseminating to state and local arson investigators, information on arson incidents and on advanced methods in arson investigations.
- That the National Fire Academy be organized as a division of the proposed United States Fire Administration which would assume responsibility for deciding details of the Academy’s structure and administration.
- That the full cost of operating the proposed National Fire Academy and subsidizing the attendance of fire service members be borne by the Federal Government.
Signed into law on October 29, 1974 by President Gerald R. Ford was Public Law 93-498, also known as the “National Fire Prevention and Control Act”. The NFPCA authorized the creation of the United States Fire Administration within the U.S. Department of Commerce. The recommendation to create the National Fire Academy “to function as the National focal point for fire prevention and control training” was adopted with the passing of the act.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter formed the Federal Emergency Management Agency by consolidating several government organizations. That same year the United States Congress appropriated funds to transfer the Civil Defense Staff College, the USFA, and the NFA into FEMA.
The Emergency Management Institute and NFA are managed independently with unique student audiences and curricula for the emergency management and national fire communities. EMI and NFA have collaborated on curricula and programs since their inception.
The NFA not only conducts classes on the Emmitsburg campus, but also serves as a hub of a highly structured educational and training network and education system for the entire country “to advance professional development of fire service personnel as a focal point for the professional training of fire officers.”
There are no tuition fees for NFA courses. All instruction and course materials are provided at no cost. Transportation costs and lodging for students who represent career or volunteer fire departments, rescue squads, or state/local governments attending on-campus courses are provided as part of funding under the Student Stipend Reimbursement Program. Students are responsible for the cost of cafeteria meals and for personal, incidental expenses.
In March 2025, the Trump administration canceled in-person classes at the academy. Its centrality to local life in Emmitsburg meant that continued closure would likely have a substantial negative impact on the region's economic livelihood. The academy reopened on June 2, 2025.
Academics and audiences
The curriculum offered at the National Fire Academy includes a wide variety of subjects intended to attract students from all aspects of the American fire services. The original intent of the NCFPC recommendation was to provide course offerings that would appeal to a broad spectrum of firefighters and fire officers across the country. Offerings were designed to be useful for firefighters from small rural volunteer fire departments to firefighters in fully career urban fire departments and included courses in:| Fire Academy Curricula Programs |
| Fire/Arson and Explosion Investigation |
| Emergency Medical Services |
| Emergency Response to Terrorism |
| Executive Development |
| Fire Prevention: Management |
| Fire Prevention: Technical |
| Fire Prevention: Public Education |
| Hazardous Materials |
| Incident Management |
| Management Science |
| Planning and Information Management |
| Responder Health and Safety |
| Training Programs |
Oversight and assessment
An eight-member Board of Visitors reviews annually the effectiveness of the entire operation at the National Fire Academy. As specified in the 1974 NFPCA, the BOV is responsible for conducting an examination of:1. All NFA training programs to determine whether they further the basic missions which are approved by the FEMA Administrator;
2. The physical plant and facilities of the NFA to determine adequacy as a learning environment, and;
3. Funding levels for NFA course delivery programs. After a review and assessment of the three examination areas, the BOV provides advice and makes recommendations to the Assistant Administrator of the USFA.
Members of the BOV are professionals selected from the fields of fire safety, fire prevention, education and training, fire control, research and development in fire protection, treatment and rehabilitation of fire victims, or local government services management.
Executive Fire Officer Program
The Executive Fire Officer Program is the flagship leadership course series at the National Fire Academy. It is the pinnacle of the U.S. Fire Administration's commitment to support the needs of fire and EMS agencies in preparing executive officers to meet the ever-changing demands of the dynamic communities in which they serve. An initiative of the USFA, the EFOP is designed to provide senior fire executives, fire chiefs, chief fire officers, and others in key leadership roles with the ability to:1. Understand the need to transform fire and emergency services organizations from being reactive to proactive; an emphasis on leadership development, prevention, and risk-reduction; transforming fire and emergency services organizations to reflect the diversity of America's communities; the value of research and its application to the profession; and the value of lifelong learning.
2. Enhance executive-level knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to lead these transformations, conduct research, and engage in lifelong learning.
The EFOP students enhance their professional development through a unique series of four graduate and upper-division-baccalaureate equivalent courses. The demanding EFOP spans a four-year period with four mandatory core courses. Each course is two weeks in length and must be attended at the NETC Emmitsburg campus.
To graduate from the EFOP, participants must write and submit a graduate-level Applied Research Project that relates to their organization after each course. Each ARP is highly scrutinized and graded by an external evaluator. The ARP must be completed within six months from the end of each EFOP class and must receive a minimum passing score before the student can take the next class in the series. Only after all four classes have been completed and all four APRs have received passing grades is the EFOP certificate awarded to the student.