The Bergen County OEM will be the first county agency in New Jersey to be granted access to the FEMA emergency alert systems.

In the past, the agency would have to get approval from the state before it could send out warning messages.

"As long as it takes you to craft the message and get it into the system is as long as it would take to press the button and send out the message," says OEM Coordinator Lt. Matthew Tiedemann.



The messages will appear on cellphones and used for life-threatening emergencies like flash floods, hazardous materials and evacuations.