The safety of spectators fireworks is monitored from command car: “Insanely many people” (Antwerp)
Just before 11:30 p.m., Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) enters the police command car with three dozen filled with sweets and pastries. “It has become a bit of a tradition that I attend the New Year’s fireworks in the command vehicle,” says De Wever. “It also has the advantage that if something goes wrong they don’t have to call me out of bed.” (laughs)
Meanwhile, the Noorderterras is already full and the Suikerrui is black with people. They all still hope for a spot on the Scheldt quays. Everything can be seen on the screens with camera images in the command vehicle. Police Commissioner Kris Verlinden keeps a close eye on it. He listens attentively to the messages that come in. The commissioner notes that the Scheldt quays on the Cockerillkaai are still almost empty, while fireworks will also be fired there. “Close the Suikerrui and lead people via the Hoogstraat towards the Scheldt quays in the south,” he says.
Warm weather
There are ten people in the command car. In addition to the police, there are people from, among others, the events service of the city of Antwerp, the emergency services and the disaster coordinator. Each with its own role in the whole. Someone regularly visits the scene because camera images sometimes do not say everything about the situation. It is from this command vehicle that the more than hundreds of agents and emergency services are controlled.
“We notice that many more people have come to the Scheldt quays earlier due to the warm weather,” says Wouter Bruyns, spokesperson for the Antwerp police. “Normally we only see the masses fifteen minutes before the fireworks. The result is that we are already becoming unclear with a number of phenomena that we otherwise only see after the fireworks, such as fights or drunk people. The advantage is that we now have more time to divert the flow of people to, for example, the Scheldt quays in the south of the city.”
Meanwhile, it is possible to set off fireworks completely illegally. The command vehicle receives a report that a man is intercepted with two bags full of fireworks. He wouldn’t have known this wasn’t allowed. Have a laugh with that in the command car. The fireworks are confiscated without mercy. Due to the enormous crowds, people look for other places to see the fireworks. Reports are coming in of spectators pushing down or climbing over fences to get closer to the blue stone. The head is kept cool in the command car. A boat is sent out to be able to act quickly if people fall into the Scheldt. However, it would not be necessary to deploy the boat.
Fifteen minutes before the fireworks start, more and more people find their way to Cockerillkaai. “There is an insane amount of people”, is muttered here and there in the command car. When the fireworks go off at midnight, everyone can relax a bit and even eat a coffee cake. The second round of the evening is to ensure that everyone can leave safely.
Alarming message
The fireworks have barely finished when an alarming message enters the command vehicle. A man has fallen through the roof of a shed behind the Ferris wheel. It would be about a five to six meter fall. The situation is critical. On the Kaaien, the Suikerrui and the Noorderterras there is still a mass of people who want to leave for home and an ambulance must now be sent there to get to the victim. It has been recorded in the command car.
There are still a lot of fireworks in the vicinity of the Scheldt quays, but at 00.39 am the quays are almost empty. Only standing on the sidewalk here and there are even fewer people celebrating. The Cockerillkaai is deserted at 00.41 am. Commissioner Verlinden has a good eye for it. In a few minutes he will be able to release the Quays for traffic again.
“Such a crowd of children is very difficult and unpredictable,” says De Wever. “A lot of people who have nothing in common with each other come to one place for the fireworks. It is a very heterogeneous mass. That is something different from, for example, football supporters of fans of a music group. Our investments in this command vehicle and the camera network prove useful at such a time. The expertise of the Antwerp police has no equal. I am very satisfied with the work that has been carried out here again. Just a pity about that man who fell through a roof.”
De Wever inquires about the condition of the man who died even before he leaves. He would be in mortal danger.