Fort St. John company apologizes after parade spectators sprayed with flamethrower fuel

FORT ST. JOHN — A local company has apologized to the Fort St. John community for fuel being sprayed on people during the Santa Claus parade 2025. 

In social media posts seen by Energeticcity.ca, some of those who attended the Santa Claus Parade and Tree Light-up event on December 6th complained about being sprayed with fuel from one of the vehicles in the procession: a truck kitted out with flamethrowers. 

In a Facebook post on December 7th, Eagle Vision Video Productions apologized for the problem with its special effects equipment. 

“During the event, our flamethrowers occasionally did not ignite properly,” the post reads.  

“This caused small amounts of fuel to spray farther than planned, and in a few instances, some reached the crowd.” 

Maybelle Bookham, a resident of Fort St. John who was at the parade with her husband and two-month-old, were hit by the spray. She told Energeticcity.ca: “In the moment, there was a cause for concern as we had our two-month-old watching the parade with us.

“When it went by, we were downwind, so it sprayed a few of us on the side of the road.”

She added: “We were worried about our baby. After we had been sprayed, I looked down and noticed his cheeks looked wet.

“I bent down to wipe off his face, and when we got home, everything that he was in smelled very strong, including his blanket, snow suit, car seat and toque.”

Eagle Vision’s post highlighted the steps the company is taking following the incident. 

It said: “Our team is taking these units out of service and reviewing what went wrong with the flame manufacturers, so this never happens again.” 

The company accepted sole responsibility for what happened and noted the Fort St. John Co-op, which had its logo on the truck for a past collaboration, had no part in the operation of the equipment or the special effects. 

Eagle Vision urged the community to contact it directly for any questions or concerns. 

To watch a recording of the parade, which was live streamed by Energeticcity.ca, click here.