Thankfully, there were no injuries.
The Flagler Beach, Florida Christmas parade was supposed to be a nice cheerful way to celebrate the holiday season, and ended up with a fully engulfed classic car, all caught on livestream. Even the fire department was a little surprised by this one. The 1930s Jaguar ended up being a total loss, and parade attendees got a lot more show than they bargained for.
This year marked the return of the parade, after a Covid hiatus, and the parade was about 3/4 of the way through when a Jaguar replica, based on the Jaguar SS 100, driven by Ken Aston, which was said to be visibly leaking oil, ignited, and was soon a ball of the flames. The driver and his granddaughters were able to safely flee, but the fire department was actually in the parade, and had to work their way through to help.
“Everyone there got to see our first responders in action,” said Flagler Beach Mayor Suzie Johnston.
“When you plan a parade you always plan for there to be bumps in the road, this is why you have law enforcement, first responders and safety there,” Johnston said. “So when the car caught fire first responders were immediately on the scene. I saw Police Chief Doughney cruising down the street on his bicycle.”
“It was a curveball thrown at us in the middle of an event, and I know I couldn’t be prouder of the way our fire department reacted,” Doughney said. “This is why you plan this professionally.”
The bystanders also provided a bit of a chaotic scene as firefighters had to consider the safety of the spectators, while navigating through the crowd, but the firefighters did what they do best, and quickly got things under control.
Source: Flagler Live
