Brandspuitenweekend 26 en 27 juli 2025

• 26 July 2025
  • 10:00 – 16:30
• 27 July 2025
  • 10:00 – 16:30

Fire engine weekend 26 & 27 July with spectacular water games

The Steam Engine Museum, located in the former steam pumping station Vier Noorder Koggen, is holding a spectacular fire brigade festival on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 July with authentic (still working) steam engines, vintage fire engines, ladder trucks, fire fighting demonstrations and a spectacular water show by the Nibbixwoud fire brigade.

Discovery of fire engine

Jan van der Heijden and his brother Nicolaes made an important invention in 1672: the fire engine. Until then, a fire was fought with rows of people passing buckets of water to each other. Van der Heiden set up an effective fire-fighting organization and made sure that a fire engine was placed in all sixty districts of Amsterdam with a fire master, guild members and volunteers who were ready to go out in case of fire.

Fire extinguishing demonstrations

Firefighters from Stichting Stoomspuit Wormerveer and Stichting Stoomspuit Gorkum demonstrate with the coal-fired Bikkers steam fire engines how a fire was extinguished around 1900. On the museum grounds are beautiful fire brigade and ladder trucks, such as a T-Ford from 1924, a Fordson car fire engine from 1951, a Daf ladder truck from 1967 with double cabin and many more. There are also demonstrations with mobile fire extinguishing systems and you can see (only on Saturdays!) the fire brigade region West-Friesland together with a youth team in action.

‘Flying Fireman’, great fun for kids!

In the water-powered attraction of the Nibbixwoud fire brigade, you are propelled approximately 4 meters into the air with a powerful jet of water, after which you are thrown around at a considerable speed. Fun for young and old! Less adventurous but also fun: try to shoot a ball from a pylon with a hand pump and water jet.

Everything that can spin, spins!

The machines are running both inside the museum and some machines outside in the steam yard. In the museum harbour you can view the coal-fired bucket dredger under steam.