NEW YORK, NY May 18, 2009 —The Bloomberg Administration is expanding a pilot emergency alert system citywide.

Subscribers to the NYC Notify system will get local alerts for everything from school closures to building collapses by e-mail, text or voice messages. The alerts will be generated by the Office of Emergency Management which monitors city conditions around the clock. Starting May 28th, subscribers can sign up for the alerts by dialing the City's 311 information line, and choose up to five zip codes. A pilot program in four neighborhoods was initiated after complaints about a lack of information from officials during the August 2007 Deutsche Bank fire that killed two firefighters.

In addition to Lower Manhattan, the pilot included the Northeast Bronx, the Rockaways, and Southwest Staten Island. Since the initial roll out, almost 13,000 subscribers have received real time emergency updates on 70 different incidents, including a crane collapse and a tornado warning.