Starting today (Friday) you’ll hear something new on your mobile phone if there’s an emergency.

Compatible mobile devices will receive emergency alerts, like natural disasters, from the alert ready system.

Officials, including Ontario Fire Marshal Ross Nichols, recently took to social media to highlight the enhancements.

“The key piece for it, is it’s geotargeted, so we can target life-threatening alerts to certain specific areas, as small as a few city blocks in a major urban centre,” he says.

OPP Sgt Kerry Schmidt says it also includes Amber Alerts.

“We want you to be our eyes and ears, help us identify, locate and help us rescue these children that are missing, that have been abducted, that need our imminent help,” he says.

Schmidt says there were six Amber Alerts issued last year in Ontario.

Here’s the full report: