Police arrested some 250 people during what officers described as a violent New Year’s Eve, marked by widespread disorder, targeted attacks on emergency workers and a sharp rise in fires and emergency calls.

At least two people died and others – including many children – were seriously injured in incidents involving fireworks in what was the last year before all but the lightest sort are banned from sale to consumers.

“Almost all available riot police in the Netherlands were on duty. It was a truly maximum deployment that lasted for much of the night,” acting police chief Willem Paulissen said in a statement.

The impact of powerful fireworks was “outright devastating” in some places and officers “have seen and experienced horrific things,” Paulissen said.

The emergency number 112 was briefly overloaded shortly after midnight, mainly because of the volume of fire reports. Major blazes included a fire that destroyed the Vondelkerk in Amsterdam, a sports hall in Bedum and a mattress shop in Hillegom.

Justice minister Foort van Oosten said on social media that the police, firefighters and other emergency service workers had faced deliberate aggression across the country, calling the attacks “unacceptable”.

In Amsterdam alone, police made 52 arrests for a range of offences. Ambulances were dispatched 275 times and the fire service more than three hundred times, a sharp increase on last year, the city, police and the public prosecution service said in a joint statement.

The Rotterdam-Rijnmond safety authority said it was a “madly busy night”, with a record number of emergency calls. Between midnight and 3am operators handled an average of seven 112 calls per minute, with total calls up more than 60%.

Nationwide, firefighters were called out nearly 4,300 times, up 4% on last year and over 16% more than the year before.

The Midden- and West-Brabant fire service responded 440 times, compared with 138 call-outs last year. Most incidents involved container, scooter or car fires. The region also reported a sharp rise in violence against emergency workers, with police and riot units intervening in several towns and cities including Tilburg and Breda.

Hospitals reported a heavy inflow of patients. The burn centre at the Martini hospital in Groningen treated 19 patients, about twice as many as last year, including 10 children under 15.

Other major hospitals, including those in The Hague and Eindhoven, also reported significantly more fireworks-related injuries, while some centres said they were busy but not overwhelmed.