Happy Birthday, NFA!
DEPARTMENTS
From the Publishers Desk
It hardly seems possible, but the National Fire Academy completed its first year of operation last Jan. 21. We say it hardly seems possible because it took so many years first to get the authorization for an academy and then it took some more years before the site at Emmitsburg was occupied.
Shortly after he became head of the United States Fire Administration, Gordon Vickery ordered a number of academy staff people to go to Emmitsburg and prepare the campus for the opening of classes.
In the first year of the academy’s courses on campus, more than 3100 students from all parts of the country attended courses there. We congratulate B. J. Thompson, NFA superintendent, and his staff on the results of their intensive work to get the residential programs under way.
Regardless of numbers, no educational program is successful unless the students feel that they learned things they needed to know. Fire Engineering has supported the concept of a National Fire Academy since it was first mentioned and now we wanted to know whether the academy was doing the job it was established to do. So we sent a questionnaire to a sampling of students.
Well, we weren’t surprised at the responses because we had talked with some of those who attended courses at the Academy. The Round Table in this issue has a few of the responses. More will be printed in the March issue.
Enthusiastic is the one word that characterizes the responses. The “alumni” praised the contents of the courses and they were laudatory in their comments about the caliber, concern and enthusiasm of the NFA instructors. More to the point, students reported using the information gained at the NFA in their own fire departments and those who took train-the-trainer courses said they felt they could teach others.
We’re delighted to hear this because not only does it justify the operation of the NFA, but more importantly, it means in the long run a more professional fire service—paid and volunteer.
