Orø builds emergency communications plan for island isolation
Sunday 25th October 2026 on 11:01 in
Denmark
Orø residents are preparing for a power failure and mobile network outage with plans to buy UHF radios and install backup power at the island’s community hall, DR reports. The island’s volunteer emergency preparedness group says residents could be cut off from outside help during a crisis.
“We would be very vulnerable during an outage. There would be no way to communicate off the island,” said Signe Olsen, a member of the group.
Emergency response times on Orø can already be long because an ambulance must travel by ferry or responders must arrive by helicopter. The island’s volunteer first responder team can reach an emergency in six or seven minutes, but it is activated through a telephone connection, which could fail if the power goes out.
With no regional crisis plan for the local responder team, residents are making their own arrangements. The group has found a local sponsor and plans to buy UHF radios so it can communicate from the community hall with first responders and connect to the emergency dispatch centre.
A recent exercise with the Home Guard tested the system. Antennas were set up at the community hall and in Holbæk, and the group said the test showed it could establish a link to the mainland without mobile networks.
Under the island’s plan, the community hall will serve as a communications hub during a crisis. One of the island’s fire engines will be stationed there so residents can contact the emergency number 112 through its SINE connection. Holbæk Municipality has also promised to prioritise backup power for the hall, which is connected to the island’s medical clinic and care centre for older people.
A crisis information leaflet has been distributed to every household. A public meeting on Sunday will bring together the volunteer group, West Zealand Fire Service, the Danish Emergency Management Association and Holbæk Municipality’s emergency preparedness coordinator.
“The community hall will be able to offer shelter, care and security,” Olsen said.