February 27, 2024

160 participated in a preparedness exercise at the refinery in Kalundborg

Yesterday, an emergency response exercise was held at the refinery in Kalundborg. More than 160 people participated in the exercise, which was organised in collaboration with several authorities.

Blue lights, sirens, and armed police officers filled the landscape around Melbyvej and Asnæsvej yesterday. However, there was no cause for concern. Instead, the presence was due to an emergency response exercise at Kalundborg Refinery.

More than 160 people and 30 emergency vehicles participated in the exercise, which was organised in collaboration with the West Zealand Fire Service, the Central and West Zealand Police and the Danish Emergency Management Agency. One of the purposes of the exercise was to train the co-operation between the refinery’s own emergency response and the local and national emergency services.

“A good and close collaboration with the authorities is crucial for us to run a reliable and safe refinery,” Karsten Eliasen, Leader of Emergency Preparedness at Kalundborg Refinery says and continues:

“Safety is our top priority and our internal emergency response team trains weekly. Therefore, I am pleased that we have once again been able to organise a joint exercise of this scale with broad participation from the local and national emergency services.”

Multiple scenarios were trained

During the exercise, the participants were trained in several scenarios. The scenarios were kept secret prior to the exercise, as was the date.

“Our goal was to put together a scenario that would significantly challenge the participants on several parameters. I think we succeeded in doing just that,” Karsten Eliasen says with support from the West Zealand Fire Service:

“It’s not often that we get the opportunity to train such complex scenarios as we did yesterday. Therefore, it’s of great importance that we train the fire stations’ internal cooperation, as well as the cooperation with the refinery and the authorities. We train to improve, and all sectors, including the fire brigade, have gained insight into areas that need further work,” says Morten Hansen, Area Manager at Vestsjællands Brandvæsen.

“The fact that the national emergency services and the refinery have had the opportunity to practise together and gain useful experience is of huge importance to the collaboration. We will now evaluate the lessons we learned together so that we can make our efforts even better in the future,” says Police Commissioner at the Central and West Zealand Police, Mikael Rahn, who, like Morten Hansen, was co-organiser of the exercise.

In addition, the Marine Home Guard participated with 15 figurants, which gave the exercise a realistic touch.

Photos: Kalundborg Refinery & The Danish National Police