Large-scale oil spill disasters are – luckily – relatively rare. But when they do happen, the existing knowledge, skills, and procedures are activated and tested. In the best case, lessons learned from the previous incidents are the foundation for the next response.

In this four-part blog series, Kia Friis Petersen from the Danish Civil Protection League takes us back to 2001 when Denmark’s largest oil spill accident occurred. The Baltic Carrier response operation required cooperation, careful planning – and creative thinking. The importance of volunteers and their organized training and management is highlighted. Much was learned during the response operation, and the incident led to several improvements in the marine environmental preparedness in Denmark.

Follow the story of Baltic Carrier accident from the OIL SPILL website here. Read about the current oil spill response stakeholders in shallow waters and coastal areas in Denmark here. Both works can also be downloaded as pdf documents here.

• Remember to register for the POPCORN webinars about volunteers in oil spill response (5 May) and oiled wildlife response (18 May). Welcome!