UK Fire Engine Shows 2026 & 2027

Fire engine events are a smaller world than trucks or steam, built around preservation groups and a handful of dedicated museums, and September is the busy month. Port Solent 999 Day in Portsmouth on 5 September 2026 is free, with the Fire Service Preservation Group's restored appliances lined up on the boardwalk next to serving fire, police, ambulance, RNLI and air ambulance crews. Emergency Services Day at Brooklands Museum follows on 19 September (included in the £19.95 adult admission), the same weekend as the Blues and Twos Weekend at the Sandtoft trolleybus museum near Doncaster, where fire and rescue demonstrations run alongside trolleybus rides.

The museums carry the rest of the calendar. Essex Fire Museum, on the working Grays fire station, holds free pre-booked open days on 30 August, 27 September and 22 November 2026, where children can climb aboard an appliance and try hose practice. Fireground in Rochdale, housed in the 1933 fire station, keeps more than twenty engines dating back to 1741 and adds a fire memorabilia sale on 15 November and a Christmas open day on 11 December. Edinburgh's Museum of Scottish Fire Heritage opens for Doors Open Day on 26 September, and the Fire Services Preservation Group's own rally lands at Eden Camp near Malton, usually over Father's Day weekend in June.

If you have a small child obsessed with fire engines, this is the easiest category in the directory: several events are free, the machines are climbable, and the crews genuinely enjoy showing them off. Two warnings from the school of hard knocks: pre-booking is common even for free days, and siren demonstrations are loud, so pack ear defenders. Everything here is checked weekly and searchable by postcode, with the Thursday Weekly Runsheet flagging what is coming up.