The fire service in Brussels turned out no fewer than 663 times on Sunday night. This is almost double the number callouts it receives on a normal night. 251 callouts were for issues that required the deployment of a fire engine, while 412 callouts were for an ambulance. The Brussels Fire Service says that 6 people were injured by fireworks in the capital.
One teenager sustained eye injuries, a 6-year-old boy sustained injuries to his hand, two other people sustained facial injuries and one person lost their hand after a firework they were holding exploded.
In addition to this, firefighters extinguished 32 car fires, 14 electric bike/scooter fires and 7 mopeds that had caught fire.
The Brussels Fire Service Spokesperson Walter Derieuw told VRT News that despite what had been a very busy evening and night, Brussels’ firefighters got through New Year’s Eve unscathed.
142 arrests by 1am
By around 1am on Monday morning 142 people had been arrested for public order or firework-related offences. Of these 122 were administrative arrests, while 20 people will face criminal charges. The total number of arrests was almost double the 74 people arrested on New Year’s Eve 2022. By the end of the night the number of arrests had risen to over 200.
By 1am the 6 local police services in the capital had received a total of 226 callouts. This includes both callouts to deal with everyday issues and callouts to deal with issues related to New Year’s Eve.
Around 55,000 people attended the New Year’s fireworks display on the square in front of the Royal Palace. Meanwhile, around 100,000 New Year’s revelers people descended the centre of Brussels to see in the New Year.