EMMITSBURG, Md. — Frank Davis saw a lot of waste during his decades in the federal government. In November, he voted for Donald Trump to get rid of it. So far, Davis likes a lot of what he has seen.
"I'm probably gonna get shot for this, but he is doing what he said he was going to do," says Davis, who serves as mayor of this town of about 3,000 people in western Maryland, just south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
In March, the Trump administration suddenly canceled in-person classes at the National Fire Academy here, which trains the United States' firefighters. Not only is the academy a big part of Emmitsburg's identity, but it also helps drive the local economy.
Davis says the administration is reviewing the academy's operations, and he is hopeful it will restore classes. If not, he says, he'll see the administration somewhat differently.
"It will change my outlook to say that they're not being fair," says Davis, who also serves as emergency medical services captain at the local firehouse, known as the Vigilant Hose Company. "They're just going in to cut and not caring what they cut."
Emmitsburg voted overwhelmingly for President Trump in November. NPR interviewed about two dozen people here. Almost all of them voted for Trump, and many said his plans to cut federal spending were a key attraction. Now, they say they are puzzled as to why the administration would cancel national training for firefighters.
Denis Onieal is also puzzled. He served for two decades as superintendent of the academy, which he says trained 8,000 to 10,000 firefighters on campus each year. The academy, often referred to as the national war college for firefighting, offers courses in everything from leadership and management for fire chiefs to how to conduct fire, arson and explosion investigations.
"The National Fire Academy takes men and women out of their comfort zone and ... exposes them to real serious tragedies and forces them to work through ... what kind of decisions they're going to make," says Onieal, who lives over the border in Pennsylvania.
If the courses aren't restored, Onieal says, Americans will pay.
"We're on a very long, slow path to self-destruction," he says. "Every day that this training is unavailable to the locals is one day closer to a disaster they can't handle or won't know how to handle."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency oversees the academy, which pays for firefighters to come to Emmitsburg. When NPR asked why classes were canceled, FEMA did not answer directly but suggested in a statement that it had to do with travel costs.
"The bottom line is we are no longer paying for non-employee travel," the statement reads. "We are only authorizing travel for mission critical programs, this isn't one. Some of these classes are still available online."
The fire academy website does show some upcoming in-person courses. They've been left up for now in case the administration changes its mind.
John Beck, who serves as fire chief of the Waynesboro Volunteer Fire Department nearby in Pennsylvania, had applied for a weekend leadership and development course at the academy in July. It would be his first one, but he doesn't expect it'll happen now. He also says online courses don't cut it.
Beck, who runs a landscaping company, works for free as fire chief. He voted for Trump and supports cutting waste and making government smaller. But Beck doesn't see how training first responders is wasteful.
"We're only 100-plus days in," Beck says of Trump's current term. "I wish things were going differently."
Beck doesn't regret his vote — yet.
"I'm not 100% there yet, but it may not take much more," he says.
Back in Emmitsburg, the dinner crowd is arriving at Ott House, a family-run pub and home away from home for firefighters who train at the academy. Over the decades, firefighters have left thousands of patches from their departments, which now blanket the walls of the pub. They include patches for a government fire bureau in Taiwan and departments in Bath, Maine, and Juneau, Alaska.
Firefighters make up more than 30% of the pub's business. Co-owner Susan Glass is worried about the long-term impact.
"I've already told a lot of our employees that it's a possibility they won't have a job for the summer, but we're hoping things open back up," Glass says.
In fact, many of the town's residents hold out hope that the administration will see the value of the academy and start classes again. Glass also voted for Trump but feels the administration is moving too fast.
"I agree with a lot of things that they're doing, but sometimes I disagree on how they're doing them," says Glass, who thinks the administration shouldn't try to do so much at once. "Maybe ... spread it out a little bit. It just seems like it's just one hammer after another."
Some members of Maryland's congressional delegation have pressed the administration for answers about the cancellation of the academy's classes but say they've heard nothing back.
"I have no idea why they're doing this," says Rep. April McClain Delaney, whose district includes Emmitsburg. "It is absolutely nonsensical."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a fellow Democrat, says he's equally baffled.
"It's extremely shortsighted and dangerous to cut this program," he says.
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