Overview
- The Rotterdam-Rijnmond safety region reported nearly 1,700 fire and ambulance notifications—about seven per minute—with a sharp rise in building, vehicle and container fires and multiple instances of crews withdrawing under attack.
- Two people died in fireworks incidents in Nijmegen and Aalsmeer, and a young child was killed in a traffic collision in Bergen op Zoom, as hospitals treated numerous firework injuries regionally.
- Major fires broke out nationwide, including the near‑total loss of Amsterdam’s Vondelkerk and large blazes in Hillegom and an under‑construction tower in Eindhoven, with causes under investigation and eyewitness accounts pointing to fireworks in some cases.
- Police and firefighters faced sustained violence in several cities—Utrecht’s Overvecht and Kanaleneiland saw heavy barrages and molotov cocktails with around 80 arrests in the city—while Breda’s Tuinzigt required ME units and a water cannon after attacks on officers.
- Regional tallies underscore the scale: Haaglanden counted 513 fire deployments and 464 police callouts, Middle and West Brabant logged 440 fire responses, and while Groningen and Drenthe saw numerous callouts, Drenthe authorities described the night as largely routine.