hfxALERT is the municipality's mass notification system for informing residents about emergencies and operations updates.
hfxALERT will send urgent and non-urgent notifications from Halifax Regional Police, Halifax Fire & Emergency’s Emergency Management Division, as well as municipal winter parking ban notices.
DISCLAIMER: Residents should sign-up for notifications via the website. The municipality’s current service provider, Everbridge, offers users a mobile app. You are not required to download the app to receive hfxALERT notifications. As with all third party apps it is the user’s responsibility to review the app’s Privacy Notice and Terms of Use.
You must sign up with hfxALERT to receive certain notifications. This will ensure the municipality can reach you to share important information quickly based on set locations, such as your home or workplace.
NOTE: If signing up on a mobile device, click "Cancel" when prompted by the pop-up window to continue signing up without downloading the mobile app. You are not required to download the app to receive hfxALERT notifications.
Click here to download the mobile app
With the Everbridge App, notifications will be sent to you based on your immediate location. For this to work, your location services must be turned on. However, you will not necessarily receive any courtesy notification or urgent public safety locations outside of your immediate location. For example, if you are away from your home, and have not signed up online, you may not receive a notification about an incident near your home.
You are not required to download the app to receive hfxALERT notifications.
hfxALERT - Tutorial video
Watch this tutorial to learn how to sign-up for hfxALERT
Common Questions
- Do I have to sign up for hfxALERT?
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You must sign up with hfxALERT to receive certain notifications. This will ensure the municipality can reach you to share important information quickly based on set locations, such as your home or workplace.
- What are the password requirements for my user account?
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Your password must be:
- At least 8 characters
- At least one item from 3 of the following 4 groups:
- Uppercase letters (A - Z)
- Lowercase letters (a - z)
- Numerals (0 - 9)
- Special characters: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( )
- Do I need to have an email address to create an account?
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Yes, an email address is required to create and hold an account. Creation of an email address is free to create on various technology platforms. Note: Once your account is created, you do not have to choose email as a delivery method to receive notices, as you may opt for the other options of Call, Text Message, or Push Notification (if you downloaded the mobile app).
- I have downloaded the Everbridge App. Why should I still sign up online?
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With the Everbridge App, notifications will be sent to you based on your immediate location. For this to work, your location services must be turned on. However, you will not necessarily receive any courtesy notification or urgent public safety locations outside of your immediate location. For example, if you are away from your home, and have not signed up online, you may not receive a notification about an incident near your home.
- Which timezone do I select when I sign up?
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Select the time zone that reads as follows: (GMT -4:00) Atlantic Standard Time (America/Halifax)
- How will I receive hfxALERT notifications?
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You can decide your preferences upon account creation. You can receive notices via an automated phone call, text message, push notification (if you have downloaded the mobile application) or email.
- I signed up, but I’m not receiving notifications.
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You will only receive winter parking ban notifications from December 15 – March 31 each year. If you did not receive a notification and believe you should have, login to your account to make sure your contact information is up to date.
- Will I receive provincial and federal notifications through hfxALERT?
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You will only receive municipal notifications through hfxALERT. Provincial and federal notifications have their own systems.
- Will I receive other notifications in the future?
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Other notification messages may be added over time. The timeline and type of any future messages remains to be determined.
- Can I choose which notifications I would like to receive?
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Some notifications are mandatory (all urgent alerts). Others provide you the choice to opt-in or opt-out upon account creation. You can unsubscribe to the hfxALERT service at any time, and not receive any notifications.
- How is the use of my personal information governed?
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Your personal information will be collected and used in accordance with and under the authority of Sections 483 and 485 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA).
When visiting the hfxALERT citizen portal or the Everbridge mobile application, you will be subject to their Privacy Notice and Terms of Use.
- Why do I need to provide confirmation that I am of legal age or that I have parental/legal guardian consent on this system?
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hfxALERT requires your contact information (phone number or email, etc.) as well as addresses of interest in order to keep you informed about public safety matters as well as to provide you courtesy information for the items which you are subscribed for. By clicking "proceed" on the login page you confirm that you are 19 years of age or older or that you have parental/legal guardian consent to provide the requested personal information for the purpose of subscribing to the hfxALERT system.
- How will my personal information be used?
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We will collect your preferred delivery methods, locations of interest, contact coordinates and subscription preferences to send you messages about emergencies or events impacting the area you have specified.
Some fields in the system are mandatory and as such you must complete them to complete your registration. When completing these sections, ensure you follow the instructions in the help and answer fields of the system. These have been developed to ensure your anonymity in the system is protected.
Your first and last name are not necessary to send you important notifications. HRM will periodically review contact data and alter it to protect your anonymity (for example if you provided a first and last name, HRM will amend both fields to HRM).
The address you provide will be used to send notifications to affected citizens using geo-location where there is an event or emergency impacting your area. You will need to provide a location name to distinguish between multiple locations. When providing a location name, we recommend you choose a name which protects your anonymity (for example instead of Home use Location 1).
Your contact information (phone number, email address, etc.) will be used to send you notifications such as public safety notifications or other courtesy notifications which you have subscribed for.
- Who has access to the information I provide at registration?
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The personal information collected will only be used by municipal staff, Halifax Regional Police staff and, if necessary, individuals under service contract with the Halifax Regional Municipality for notification purposes.
- Will my personal information travel, be stored or accessed outside of Canada?
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Your personal information may be accessed, stored and/or disclosed to Everbridge, a US company, from/to locations outside of Canada for support purposes. Everbridge is contractually bound to comply with the privacy laws applicable to the HRM when it is processing or storing personal information on HRM’s behalf.
When using the Everbridge application, with location services turned on, your location will be used to provide notifications to you when you are in an incident zone (where a public safety situation is present). In this case, Everbridge collects information such as device information and location information directly from the user’s device when using the Everbridge mobile app. Refer to their Privacy Notice and Terms of Use.
- How can I stop receiving alerts?
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You may unsubscribe to optional alerts at any time or delete your profile completely to stop receiving alerts altogether. If you do not delete your profile, you will continue to receive mandatory notifications.
At any time after you’ve signed up, you may login into the web application and delete your account (Note: You cannot delete your account from the Everbridge mobile application):
1. Delete account from the web application
a. Login to the Everbridge web application using your account credentials
b. In the My Profile section, click Delete My Account
c. A dialogue box will appear at the top of your screen asking you to confirm, click OK
2. Delete account from the mobile application
a. Login to the Everbridge mobile application on your mobile device using your account credentials
b. From the menu on the top left of the screen, select Profile
c. Click on Edit located on the top right of the profile screen
d. Click on the delete symbol to the left of the account you’d like to select
e. Click on Delete to the right of the account
Your account will be deleted from the Everbridge server within 30 days. - What web browsers are supported by Everbridge?
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Everbridge supports the following web browsers: Internet Explorer (version 11 or higher), Microsoft Edge (version 41 or higher), Mozilla Firefox (version 65 or higher), Google Chrome (version 73 or higher), and Apple Safari (version 11 or higher). Everbridge recommends Google Chrome if you are having problems.
- Why is my first and last name showing as HRM?
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This information is not required for accessing or using the hfxALERT to receive notification. The first and last name is set to “HRM” to protect your personal information.
- I have no computer; how do I sign up?
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There are public computers available at the Halifax Public Library.
- I’m having trouble signing up, what should I do?
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Follow the video tutorial found on Halifax.ca/hfxALERT.
Switch your browser to Google Chrome.
If you’re still experiencing issues, please call 311 or leave your feedback at halifax.ca/hfxalertfeedback - I was prompted to download the app when trying to sign-up from my smart phone/tablet. What should I do?
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Residents should sign-up for notifications via the website. HRM’s current service provider, Everbridge, offers users a mobile app. You are not required to download the app to receive hfxALERT notifications. If you were prompted to download the app when trying to sign-up from your smart phone/table, you may click “cancel” and it will allow you to continue sign-up via the website. As with all third party apps, it is the user’s responsibility to review the app’s Privacy Notice and Terms of Use.