By Dave Donohue
In 2016, I received an appointment for the job of my dreams. This week, I said goodbye.
I have been in emergency services for over 40 years, holding positions from boot firefighter to department head. Over that time, I have picked up training and education and consider myself pretty good at what I do. But from my first time attending a class there, the National Fire Academy was the place to be – somewhere I never imagined I would have the opportunity to contribute.
Inside the Academy
For those who have never been, you are missing out on the greatest professional experience you will likely ever have. It is said that the National Fire Academy is the best kept secret in the fire service – that it is the fire service version of the Naval or Military Academy. The analogy is flawed. The service academies teach young ensigns and lieutenants some basic skills and to listen to their chiefs and sergeants. A better analogy is to compare the Academy to command and general staff or war college. The Academy is for those who seek the highest level of training and education, who want to fully understand the world and their role in it, and who seek to lead professionally.
The Academy offers the finest courses at its Emmitsburg, Maryland, campus and in the field – classes that are, by law, not available anywhere else in the nation, not to mention offered at no cost. For on-campus courses, they even provide room and reimburse travel costs. If we can get emergency services personnel to come to the Academy once, they will try to come back every year throughout their career. Attendance at the NFA alters and defines responders’ careers, connects them with the best and brightest, and strengthens their capabilities to improve their departments and communities.
The campus experience offers something more than an unmatched educational experience. There is magic that occurs on campus. The classes offer more than just course content; they provide deep discussion and thought. They answer the “why” and “so what” of content, so that the concepts can be applied effectively with the goal of leading emergency services to better integrate with and improve the health and safety of the communities they serve. The campus provides the opportunity to meet and engage on a deep level with the leaders of the industry, regardless of rank, and the chance to develop a national network of trusted peers that you can lean on. When students leave the campus, they know not only what the right answer is, if there is one, but they also know why. They are able to internalize the lessons and apply them in the world. The courses merge theory with practice so that those who attend can do the right thing when they are at home and articulate their reasoning if challenged.
The campus library is the largest repository of emergency services research and publications in the United States, and it is accessible both on and off campus. Wherever you are in the country, if you have a problem that requires trusted, validated information, you can contact the librarians and they would will research and provide vetted information and documentation to help you support your actions.
The instructors are the best in the nation, selected for both their technical expertise and their attitude. Instructors and staff genuinely care about the students and their experiences, and support their ability to make changes in their departments and communities. It is not uncommon to find both staff and instructors spending hours before and after class working with students. Staff have paid for food, driven students who needed rides, served as career counselors and confidants, and worked to make the Academy the crown jewel of fire and EMS training and education in the nation.
Part of the magic
Attending the Academy changed the trajectory of my career. As a responder, I took the information I learned in Management of EMS and Advanced Leadership Issues in EMS and worked to help the fire departments in my county improve service delivery and provide EMS transport. I was able to convert the information from the Planning and Information Management classes into improved response coverage and support a stronger budget to better serve the community. The knowledge and skills I gained in Community Risk Reduction classes guided the development of risk reduction programs that paid off with reduced death and injury in the communities I served. And what I learned in the Chemistry for Hazardous Materials saved the Library of Congress from the potential of a significant explosion.
My story is not unique. Thousands of responders have had similar experiences where they were able to apply the information received and able to change their departments and communities for the better.
And for a while, I was able to be a part of that magic.
Painful exodus
While the Academy has had its budget and capabilities consistently reduced year after year, the current administration has instituted dramatic changes to the U.S. Fire Administration and at the National Fire Academy. On March 8, FEMA cancelled all in-person NFA training amid a funding review, and the Academy lost some staff due to DOGE efforts. In late April, staff members were offered a last chance to depart prior to the commencement of Reduction in Force, with the understanding that there would be a follow-on RIF, and that working conditions would be altered to incentivize resignations (e.g., changes to workdays, hours and locations; frequent deployments; no training). This led to an exodus of folks seeking to take the offer.
After a very long week of thought, I chose to join them and submitted my paperwork for early retirement. As one of my coworkers said, “You can be the first rat off the ship as it sinks, or the last. Either way, the ship is going down.”
So, I was left with the choice of remaining and watching this critical institution crumble, knowing that the impact will be an increase if fires, injuries and deaths, or leaving an organization that I love and work to strengthen and rebuild it from the outside and advocate for improved training and education for the emergency response community.
My time at the NFA has been the dream job at the end of my career in emergency services. I considered it my “pay-back” tour. I wanted to give back to the job I loved and help to make emergency services community better and safer. While I have no grand illusions on my impact, I hope that, in some small way, I helped to make things a little better, even if it was only 25 students at a time.
Making this decision to leave was not easy, and I constantly play it over in my mind, hoping that I made the right decision. I had hoped to spend a few more years conducting training and developing training that meets the needs of the emergency services community to help make their lives safer and reduce risk to responders and communities. Now I feel as if I have failed and continue to feel as if I have given up and abandoned the Academy, the fire and EMS service, and the communities we all serve. I need to adjust to the fact that I am not giving up; I am just moving on to a different venue to continue the fight.
[Note: Just days before this published, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers that her office is working to restore funding to the NFA.]
Advocacy from the outside
While I was employed, I was legally prevented from advocating for the Academy. Even sharing what I have learned over the years with my emergency services peers was prohibited. That has now changed.
Now, I am focused on finding work, preferably developing and conducting training or something related to my area of expertise. I continue to work on a book that ties tactical scenarios with incident management and policy and develop some training for emergency responders. I also plan to zealously advocate for the Academy and the USFA and the need to adequately fund and expand their presence in our fire service and our government.
I believe that I can now be more effective as an advocate for the nation’s fire and emergency services from outside the Academy. I remain involved and active in supporting efforts to improve the health and safety of responders and the communities they serve.
One thing that haunts me is that I couldn’t answer the questions one of my coworkers asked: “How did it get like this? We do good things. We help save people in the community and firefighters’ lives. Why do they want to shut us down?”
I will never be able to answer that question, but I will work to change the view of the Academy so that it is recognized as a vital part of improving the health, safety, capabilities and lives of the emergency services community as they work to make their communities better places to live and work.
Forever grateful
As I leave, I am humbled by the friendship and example of the instructors, the training specialists, instructional designers, classroom support specialists, librarians, and all the support staff at the Academy and the USFA. They care more than the nation knows and are focused on doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons. Whether they realize it or not, the nation is lucky to have such people who have been willing to devote themselves to working for them. I am also thankful for the friendship, dedication and professionalism of the emergency services personnel who have taken a chance to attend classes at the Academy and are improving the health, safety, and quality of life of their communities and their organizations.
I never would have expected to have had the career that I had, all thanks to those who have mentored me and befriended me over the years. They all saw something in me that I did not see in myself, and I am forever grateful for their support over the years.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dave Donohue has over 40 years of emergency services experience, serving in Florida, Maryland, Washington, D.C., West Virginia and Pennsylvania, serving in all ranks from recruit firefighter, EMT and paramedic to department head. He has been involved in training and education of emergency responders for over 35 years, most recently as a training specialist at the National Fire Academy for which he designed and developed 17 courses and provided program management, most recently of the hazardous materials and terrorism curricula.
He holds a master’s degree in public administration, graduate certificates in educational technology and design and disaster science, a bachelor’s degree in organizational studies, associate degrees in fire science and EMS technology, and certificates in weapons of mass destruction and curricula design.
He also served, both active duty and reserve, in the U.S. Coast Guard, retiring as a chief petty officer.
