Article Archive
I will be in Emmitsburg next week for the FESHE Conference. This article does a great job explaining the National Fire Academy experience.
There is plenty to do at the National Fire Academy, even within the neighborhood of sleepy Emmitsburg -- the local Ott House tavern is still popular with students, and Gettysburg National Battlefield is only ten miles away -- but the encouraging and overwhelming impression is that most people are there primarily to learn. Many courses are very labor-intensive, with evening class meetings or assignments. For every person you see swilling beer in the pub, you will see two huddled over books in a lounge or glued to a computer screen at the LRC.
There is a professional, collegial atmosphere on the Emmitsburg campus that is not often found in day-to-day fire station life. People have fun, but they also exchange ideas, challenge each other, and learn from instruction and experience and their peers. And this is perhaps the greatest benefit of attending a residential course at the NFA: the opportunity to be part of this community of fire service professionals, and to be treated as a valued equal. I felt that way even in 1981, and I have felt that way every time I have been back.
