(5/25) Three months after word arrived via an e-mail that FEMA was ceasing in-person classes at the Fire Academy and Emergency Management Institute, an e-mail from Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative April McClain Delaney announced that in-person classes at the two institutions would resume sometime in early June.

In an e-mail dated May 22, Hollen and Delaney said: "Classes at the National Fire Academy are resuming, following their pushback on the Trump Administration’s decision to halt trainings that support first responders from across the United States."

In March, Senator Van Hollen and Congresswoman McClain Delaney led a bipartisan, bicameral letter with over 60 of their colleagues, including Senator Angela Alsobrooks, demanding answers from the Administration on the decision to cancel trainings and pressing them to reinstate classes.

"The National Fire Academy, based in Emmitsburg, provides critical training to first responders across the Country – ensuring our firefighters have the tools they need to save lives. The Trump Administration’s decision to abruptly cancel these classes made no sense – and what’s more, it risked significant harm to our communities and those who protect them. While the good work done by the men and women at the National Fire Academy never should have been halted, I’m glad to see the Administration has heeded our calls to lift this senseless ban," said Senator Van Hollen, who recently received a commitment from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resume classes in response to his questioning at a Senate hearing.

"Despite receiving no response from the Trump Administration to our letter objecting to the senseless cancellation of training classes at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, I am happy to share that programming will be resuming immediately for dedicated fire fighters and first responders from around the Nation! The rash decision to close the Academy wasted valuable resources and undermined our communities’ safety, resilience, and response efforts."

FEMA has released no details on results of any internal reviews leading up to the original decision to cease classes, or the basis for, or the exact timing for resuming classes.

According to a knowledgeable FEMA staffer, the institutes were flagged by the Department of Government Efficiency "due to its exorbitant travel budget." FEMA currently pays for all travel expenses, as well as all room and board, for all students attending classes at the two schools. "Travel expenses easily exceed $250,000 to $350,000 a week," said the staffer.

While the travel costs got the attention of budget cutters, the practice of paying student travel cost will continue after classes resume. "Nothing has changed that led to the initial shutdown so your guess as to why we were shut down is as good as mine," said the staffer.

The announcement of the planned resumption of classes was welcome news to many small businesses that had been hit hard for the closure, and with the end of the spring semester, they had been looking down the barrel of a long, slow summer.

Local residents employed at the schools said they have already been notified that they will be called back to work.