Brandspuitenweekend

• 25 July 2026
  • 10:00 – 17:00
• 26 July 2026
  • 10:00 – 17:00

Fire Engine Weekend July 25 & 26 with spectacular water show

On the weekend of Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July, the museum is once again organizing a dazzling fire brigade festival featuring authentic (still working) steam fire engines, vintage fire trucks, ladder trucks, firefighting demonstrations, and a spectacular water show by the Nibbixwoud fire brigade.

Everything that can spin, spins!

The machines run both inside the museum and some machines outside on the steam yard. In the museum harbor, you can view the coal-fired bucket dredger under steam.

Discovery of fire hose

In 1672, Jan van der Heijden, together with his brother Nicolaes, made an important invention: the fire pump. Until that time, fires were fought with lines of people passing buckets of water to one another. Van der Heiden established an effective fire-fighting organization and ensured that a fire pump was stationed in all sixty districts of Amsterdam, complete with a fire chief, guild members, and volunteers standing ready to respond to fires.

Firefighting demonstrations

Firefighters from the Wormerveer Steam Fire Engine Foundation and the Gorkum Steam Fire Engine Foundation demonstrate, using coal-fired Bikkers steam fire engines, how a fire was extinguished around 1900. Beautiful fire trucks and ladder trucks are on display on the museum grounds, such as a 1924 T-Ford, a 1951 Fordson fire engine, a 1967 Daf ladder truck with a double cab, and many more. Furthermore, there are demonstrations with mobile extinguishing systems, and you can see the West-Friesland Regional Fire Department in action together with a youth team.

‘Flying Fireman’, great fun for children!

In the Nibbixwoud fire department’s water-powered attraction, you are propelled approximately 4 meters into the air by a powerful jet of water, after which you are spun around at considerable speed. Fun for young and old! Less adventurous but also fun: try shooting a ball off a pylon using a hand pump and a water jet.