BOARD OF VISITORS FOR THE NATIONAL FIRE ACADEMY December 06, 2022

1

Department of Homeland Security

Federal Emergency Management Agency

U.S. Fire Administration

Board of Visitors for the National Fire Academy

December 06, 2022

Zoom Teleconference

Attendees:

The following members of the Board of Visitors for the National Fire Academy were in attendance 

for the teleconference.

John S. Butler (Chairperson)

Fire Chief 

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department

12099 Government Center Parkway

Fairfax, VA 22033

Dr. Patricia McIntosh (Vice Chair)

Emergency Management Coordinator

College of the Mainland

1200 N. Amburn Road

Texas City, TX 77591

Thomas E. Romaine, Jr.

Smokechaser

Minnesota Department of Natural

Resources - Forestry

644 Pfaender Drive

New Ulm, MN 56073

Chief Kevin D. Quinn

First Vice Chair

National Volunteer Fire Council

7852 Walker Drive, Suite 375

Greenbelt, MD 20770

Dr. Michael Macey

Director of Public Safety

St. John’s College

1160 Camino Cruz Blanca

Santa Fe, NM 87505

Steven Dubay

Deputy Chief

Colorado Springs Fire Department

375 Printers Parkway

Colorado Springs, CO 80910

Kristin Crowley

Fire Chief

Los Angeles Fire Department

200 N. Main Street, Suite 1770

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Dr. Mark A. Rivero

Site Coordinator

Southern Illinois University

1044 Beaver Crest Court

Henderson, NV 89015
BOARD OF VISITORS FOR THE NATIONAL FIRE ACADEMY December 06, 2022 

2

Federal Emergency Management Agency/U.S. Fire Administration/National Fire Academy 

(FEMA/USFA/NFA) staff in attendance:

Chief Tonya Hoover, Deputy Fire Administrator, USFA

Mr. James Hodge, Director, Management, Operations, and Support Services (MOSS)

Mr. Eriks Gabliks, Superintendent, NFA 

Ms. Deb Gartrell-Kemp, Program Support Specialist

Chief Richard Patrick, Director, National Fire Programs Division

Mr. Lester Rich, Acting Deputy Superintendent, Branch Chief, Response Branch, NFA 

Ms. Christine Spangler, Branch Chief, Leadership and Community Risk Reduction Branch, NFA

Ms. Michelle Spielman, Secretary

Ms. Tiffany Warren, Branch Chief, Training, Administration, Planning and Analysis Branch, 

NFA

Others in attendance/public attendees:

Ms. Tamara Molina, Acting Deputy Executive Director, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

(DHS) Headquarters/Office of Partnership and Engagement/Office of Academic Engagement

Convene Board of Visitors Meeting/Welcome

Chief John S. Butler, Chairperson, Board of Visitors

Chief Tonya Hoover, Deputy Fire Administrator, U.S. Fire Administration

Mr. Eriks Gabliks, Superintendent, National Fire Academy

Good afternoon, and welcome to this meeting of the Board of Visitors for the NFA. This meeting 

is being conducted under regulations outlined in the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

I want to thank you for volunteering your time, diligent work and for completing the necessary 

security and ethical processes to serve as Special Government Employees.

Mr. Eriks Gabliks will serve as the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) for this meeting. The DFO’s 

role is to serve as liaison between the Board of Visitors and the USFA. The DFO is also responsible 

for ensuring that all the provisions of the FACA are met regarding the operation of the Board of 

Visitors. 

We have an agenda as published in the Federal Register. The times listed are approximate, and we 

may need to adjust the agenda to accommodate schedules. We must ensure that time for 

deliberations is adequate, and that the public has ample time to make comments. No comments 

were sent in from the public. Ms. Deb Gartrell-Kemp is the USFA/NFA contact with FACA 

officials at FEMA and the DHS. Michelle Spielman and Ellen Newlin are backups. 

Dextera/Leading Solutions support staff, Mr. Dallas Moorer, will be taking notes and will compile 

minutes. Minutes will include matters discussed and conclusions reached by the board. 

We will prepare the minutes and ensure that they are certified by the meeting chair within 90 

calendar days. All comments and notes will be available for public review forever. 
BOARD OF VISITORS FOR THE NATIONAL FIRE ACADEMY December 06, 2022

3

Chief John Butler called the meeting to order.

Chair Chief Butler introduced himself and began the Board of Visitors meeting at around 2:10 

p.m.

Chief Tonya Hoover, deputy fire administrator, thanked the board for their continued work and 

gave her update. She spoke about how many members of the board were also in attendance at the 

Presidential Fire Prevention Summit (https://www.firehero.org/usfa-summit/). From the summit 

came 6 asks. Chief Hoover told the board about how rounds are being made around the country to 

bring awareness to the 6 asks and about how committees were formed for each ask. She discussed 

how the Board of Visitors is strategic in its planning and how that will be essential in the future.

She also talked about how the USFA is going through a reorganization. She spoke to how the first 

of the new year marks a new fourth division into the USFA dedicated to data and research and 

about how emergency medical services is set to be put front and center with a focus on bolstering 

it.

Chief Hoover told the board that the draft USFA strategic plan is tied to the FEMA strategic plan,

and both of their goals align.

Deputy Chief Steven Dubay asked a question about the realigning of the USFA organization and 

wanted to know how they have drifted away from the legislation.

Chief Hoover answered that the stars were originally lumped together and, over the course of time,

drifted apart to suit the needs of the USFA at that time.

Chief Hoover spoke about the new external affairs specialist named Evrim Bunn.

U.S. Fire Administration Data, Research, Prevention and Response

Chief Richard Patrick, Director, National Fire Programs Division, U.S. Fire 

Administration

The director of National Fire Programs, Chief Richard Patrick, addressed USFA Data, Research, 

Prevention and Response.

Chief Patrick discussed how the complete USFA incident data set was now available. He spoke 

about how 2 new employees have been hired on for the department and that the website has been 

updated with plans to have ongoing updates.

Chief Patrick informed the Board of Visitors that a new wildland urban interface (WUI) awareness 

tool is active and has been deployed and that they are in the process of further enhancing it.

Chief Patrick talked about several best-practice programs and working with other organizations 

such as the Department of National Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and 

Explosives to create a partnership to train a number of individuals from both organizations.
BOARD OF VISITORS FOR THE NATIONAL FIRE ACADEMY December 06, 2022

4

Chief Patrick spoke about how they have 25 ongoing research projects and how they have been 

conducting research into personal protective equipment.

Dr. Mike Macey commented on the importance of getting and using open-source data.

Deferred Maintenance and Capital Improvements on the National Emergency 

Training Center Campus

Mr. James Hodge, Director, Management, Operations, and Support Services

Mr. James Hodge, director of MOSS, discussed that 18 deferred projects have been completed. He 

spoke about the renovation to the ground floor of D building and converting it back to occupational 

space, as well as about the campus-wide fire alarm upgrade and the third and fourth floor 

renovations in N building.

Mr. Hodge informed the board that the tunnel repairs are still ongoing along with the site-wide 

plumbing upgrade plans, and he spoke about the plans to upgrade the elevators in E, H and K 

buildings. He also discussed the heating, ventilation and air conditioning upgrades meant for V1 

building.

Mr. Hodge talked about the burn range improvements.

He also spoke about how 20 electric carts have been purchased to replace the current fleet of 

service vehicles and informed the board about the plans for a campus-wide Wi-Fi upgrade.

Mr. Hodge discussed that there are a number of future projects in the works, but funding needs to 

be secured.

Chief Kevin Quinn asked a question about the status of a project proposal for a campus health and 

wellness center. Mr. Hodge responded that they are still waiting on a response from FEMA to get 

the process started further.

National Fire Academy Updates on Developments, Deliveries, Staffing and 

Admissions

Mr. Eriks Gabliks, National Fire Academy, Superintendent

Ms. Tiffany Warren, Branch Chief, Training, Administration, Planning and Analysis 

Branch, NFA

Ms. Christine Spangler, Branch Chief, Leadership and Community Risk Reduction

Branch, NFA

Mr. Lester Rich, Acting Deputy Superintendent, Branch Chief, Response Branch, 

NFA

Ms. Tiffany Warren spoke about how they have submitted their annual results to FEMA and that,

from the surveys, there has been a significant improvement seen in job performance. She also 
BOARD OF VISITORS FOR THE NATIONAL FIRE ACADEMY December 06, 2022

5

discussed expanding online instructor training and that they are still delivering NFA virtual 

learning.

Ms. Warren then informed the board about the fiscal year 2023 WUI curriculum rollout and talked 

about diversity, equity and inclusion courses. She then spoke about how they are looking for ways 

to get new instructors.

Ms. Christine Spangler spoke to the board about how a diversity, equity and inclusion course was 

in development and that the course design would take place on Jan. 26 through 28, 2023.

Ms. Spangler talked about how when it comes to the course design, they are looking for ways to 

engage as many as possible. She discussed how 3 Executive Fire Officer (EFO) classes were under 

review and informed the board that there were 292 survey responses; the raw data was sent to the 

EFO program.

Ms. Spangler spoke about how the EFO symposium would take place on April 14 and 15, 2023.

She also talked about the capstone research guidelines and the EFO Program Handbook and how 

they will be updated and posted online in January.

Ms. Spangler discussed that a preliminary review was conducted with the Company Officers

Section/International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) last month and that another was scheduled 

for January. She then brought up the need for redeployment funding.

Mr. Lester Rich gave a response branch update. He discussed a new 2-day course in development 

named “Fire as a Weapon.” He then informed the board that both the “Chemistry for Emergency

Response” (R0233) and “Hazardous Materials Incident Management” (R0243) have been updated 

and had walkthroughs in the past week.

Mr. Rich stated that the “Emergency Medical Services: Quality Management” (R0158) course has 

been revised and is scheduled for January 2023. He talked about how Blackboard offers 2 classes 

currently with 5 more prioritized to be added through spring.

Mr. Rich then discussed how the Secret Service was interested in having a joint training on incident 

management and other exercises. He informed the board that projects have begun to add a new 

classroom and bathrooms to the burn range, and he also spoke of the new forensic field activity 

site located behind J building.

Mr. Rich stated that a new Apollo Patient Simulator was purchased for the “Advanced Life Support 

Response to Hazardous Materials Incidents” (R0247) class

Mr. Rich discussed how the breakout rooms were being upgraded.

Mr. Gabliks spoke about how the federal budget is still in continuing resolution and that they will 

need to wait on that to be complete to precede with new projects. He informed the board that they 

still retain a nurse on campus and that they are following COVID-19 protocols and safety for staff 
BOARD OF VISITORS FOR THE NATIONAL FIRE ACADEMY December 06, 2022

6

and students. He then discussed new Program Decision Options which, if approved, would fund 

additional personnel and resources.

Mr. Gabliks talked about how state weekends have been filling up and have been trending better 

than the past year, and he spoke about bolstering the state training classes.

Mr. Gabliks shared that there were only 12 upcoming classes with any empty seats in them all the 

way through April and that they were looking into ways to fill those remaining spots. He also 

informed the board that Dec. 15 is the second semester deadline.

Mr. Gabliks posted that the following courses were up for American Council on Education

rereview. 

“Hazardous Materials Code Enforcement” (R0615)

“Emergency Medical Services: Functions in the Incident Command System”

(W0166)

“Emergency Medical Services: Incident Operations” (R0147)

“Administration of Public Assistance for Community Recovery” (R0335)

“Advanced Science of Hazardous Materials Response” (R0655)

“Applications of Community Risk Reduction” (R0385)

“Demonstrating Your Community Risk Reduction Program's Worth” (R0378)

“Emergency Resource Deployment Planning Standards of Coverage” (R0492)

“Emergency Response to Terrorism: Strategic Considerations” (W0549)

“Executive Planning” (R0506)

“Fire Investigation: Essentials” (R0772)

“Fire Investigation: First Responders” (W0770)

“Managing Effective Fire Prevention Programs” (R0671)

“New Fire Chief: Administrative Issues” (W0761)

“Wildland Urban Interface: Fire-Adapted Communities” (R0614)

“Service Area Risk Reduction” (R0673)

New courses (3):

“Exercise of Executive Leadership: Self” (R5201)

“Exercise of Executive Leadership: Organization” (R5202)

“Exercise of Executive Leadership: Community” (R5203)

Mr. Gabliks also discussed how recruitment for staffing has moved forward and that the Fire and 

Emergency Services Higher Education position is still vacant.

Board of Visitors Subcommittee Activity Reports

Professional Development Initiative Update

Dr. Patricia McIntosh, Chair

Mr. Tom Romaine, Co-Chair
BOARD OF VISITORS FOR THE NATIONAL FIRE ACADEMY December 06, 2022

7

Dr. Patricia McIntosh and Mr. Tom Romaine had nothing to report at this time.

National Fire Incident Reporting System

Chief Kevin Quinn, Chair

Dr. Mark A. Rivero, Co-Chair

Chief Quinn reported progress. 

Chief Quinn started a discussion about the upcoming board election. He asked about how many 

members would be stepping down.

Chief Butler responded that 3 members’ terms were ending.

Final Comments/Adjournment

Chief Butler asked if there was any old business to attend to.

No comments were made.

Chief Butler asked if there was any new business.

No comments were made.

Chief Butler motioned to adjourn the meeting.

The motion was seconded by Dr. McIntosh.

A vote was made, and the meeting was successfully adjourned at 3:40 p.m.