Thanks to a $1.7 million grant from the state's department of justice, New Hampshire soon will have a statewide first responder communications and training network.

Primedia Workplace Learning's Homeland One First Responder network will be deployed at more than 600 fire department, law enforcement and EMS sites across the state.

“Through this effort we hope to enhance the level of training across New Hampshire and, at the same time, lessen the burden that training often carries with it for the first responder,” said New Hampshire Attorney General Peter W. Heed.

Primedia Workplace Learning, a division of Primedia Inc. and the parent company of the Fire & Emergency Training Network, launched Homeland One in July 2003 after more than 15 years in satellite training for first responders. The system integrated the foundations built by FETN, the Law Enforcement Training Network, the Health and Sciences Television Network and the Professional Security Training Network with the mission of preparing first responders for homeland security. Primedia Inc. also owns Fire Chief magazine.

The company modeled its customizable training modules on National Interagency Incident Management Systems and the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Domestic Preparedness First Responder Training Guidelines and Standardized Emergency Management System standards.

In addition to receiving state-of-the-art modular homeland security training, the network will be used to brief first responders in times of emergency. New Hampshire receives four hours of broadcast time over the network each month that can be used for incident response, command briefing or coordination of resources across the state.

With Homeland One, New Hampshire also becomes the first state in the nation with the ability to receive statewide secure communications directly from DHS.