Arrests, fires and accidents: Statistics show what to expect on New Year's Eve

Emergency services are gearing up for another busy New Year's Eve this year. The ANP has collected a list of all the incidents that have happened in the last few years during the New Year's holiday period.

The list contains arrests, car and container fires, and hospitalization numbers. The statistics have come from the police, the Netherlands Institute for Public Safety (NIPV), and VeiligheidNL.

Arrests

From New Year's Eve of 2022 to New Year's Day 2023, the police arrested 248 people for incidents regarding the New Year's celebrations. Incidents like illegally owning fireworks, destruction, and public disturbances. The police made 289 arrests on New Year's Eve a year earlier, reflecting a reduction of 14 percent in a year.

The police say that last year's rainy weather is likely a reason for the decline. The decline was substantial and noticeable in the east and central regions of the Netherlands. Only the Rotterdam and The Hague regions showed an increase in arrests. The riot police unit (ME) was deployed in the neighborhood of Laak in The Hague, where several arrests were made.

Besides these offenses, the police also keep track of the arrests they make, which are not just related to "New Year's incidents" like driving under the influence. These numbers show that there was an increase in arrests last year. During the last New Year's period, 771 people were arrested, compared to 652 the year before. The police say that the main reason is the cancellation of the coronavirus lockdown and the reopening of cafes and restaurants.

Violence against police

The police were physically attacked more often during the coronavirus pandemic than during the other New Year's events. The police noted 81 incidents from 2022 into 2023 compared to 97 incidents the year before. When the calendar flipped from 2020 to 2021, the police also reported 97 incidents compared to the two years before the pandemic, when they recorded 82 and 59 incidents.

Car fires

Unlike in previous years, the fire department was needed less than 200 times during the 2022 to 2023 New Year's period to extinguish car fires. There were 189 reports that required the fire department's attention. A year earlier, the total was 203, and there were 221 such responses during the New Year's before that, according to figures collected by the NIPV. The figures are measured from the stroke of midnight on January 1 of the year in question.

According to data from Independer, one in ten car fires took place in The Hague, followed by Utrecht with just over eight percent.

Waste containers on fire

During the last New Year's Eve, the fire department put out 826 waste containers that were on fire. That is more than during the previous two New Year's Eves when a general fireworks ban was still in effect due to the coronavirus measures. From 2021 to 2022, 770 waste containers were on fire, and 610 were on fire from 2020 to 2021.

The number of fires during the recent New Year's Eve was lower than during the New Year's Eve from 2019 to 2020 when there were no coronavirus measures in force. During New Year's Eve, the fire brigade extinguished fires in waste containers 1,013 times.

Housing fires

The fire department was dispatched for housing fires on 141 occasions last New Year's. That was an increase of 45 percent compared to the year before, when they were sent out to tackle fires in 97 homes. From 2020 to 2021, this was 93 times, and from 2019 to 2022, 136 times. In 2022, there were an average of 21 home fires per day. There were almost seven times as many during New Year's Eve from 2022 to 2023.

Firework accidents

During the New Year's holidays during the coronavirus pandemic, fewer people ended up in general practitioners' offices or emergency rooms for fireworks accident than in the years prior. From 2022 to 2023, a total of 389 people ended up in the emergency room and 864 in an urgent general practitioner post. This means the number was back to the level before the coronavirus period when approximately the same number of people ended up in either type of medical care facility.

The number of fireworks victims treated by plastic surgeons also returned to the same level as before the coronavirus period. From 2022 to 2023, this was 52 people, compared to 39 and 18 people during the two previous New Year's holidays. From 2019 to 2020, 50 fireworks victims were treated by plastic surgeons.