• Nicolas Féraud, the Mayor of Crans-Montana, told a press conference earlier this week that the ski resort’s municipal services had failed to conduct periodic fire safety inspections between 2020 and 2025.

A crowded bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana where 40 partygoers died and more than 115 people were seriously injured when it caught fire during New Year’s Eve celebrations had not been inspected since 2019.

Although local regulations stipulate that establishments that are open to the public should be inspected every year by the municipal fire department to ensure they are safe to host events, this didn’t happen, according to local reports .

Nicolas Féraud, the Mayor of Crans-Montana, admitted at the press conference  that he didn’t know why the bar, which is split over two levels and had been renovated in 2015, had not been inspected between 2020 and 2025, but added that a team of five safety officers was responsible for checking more than 10,000 buildings.

A police spokesperson in the Valais canton in southwest Switzerland, told the press  that the fire had broken out about 1.30am local time in Le Constellation, a bar that is popular mainly with European tourists.

Early on, investigators ruled out arson as a cause of the fire and reported that it was caused accidentally yet spread quickly. Investigators believe that champagne bottles with sparklers attached to them were held too close to the basement ceiling and set light to the sound-insulating foam contained within it.

‘Everything suggests the fire started from the burning candles of “Bengal lights” that had been attached to champagne bottles,’ the prosecutor Béatrice Pilloud told a press conference  in Sion, a town around 25km from the resort, after examining mobile phone footage and taking witness statements.

The prosecutor said that investigators were gathering evidence and would look at the materials Le Constellation’s French owners had used in the bar and its basement’s renovation in 2015. They would also look at the bar’s operating licence, the availability of fire extinguishers and emergency exits, and the number of people packed into the venue when the fire ignited. According to its website, the bar can host up to 300 people.

Pilloud initially said the owners – named by French media as Jacques and Jessica Moretti – had been questioned, but not under caution.

There were never any checks on this soundproofing foam. Our security agents did not consider it necessary

On Wednesday this week, however, BBC News reported  that Swiss prosecutors had placed the French couple under criminal investigation as both are suspected of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.

A Swiss fire expert, Markus Knorr, told the Swiss outlet 20 Minutes that the types of soundproofing panels apparently used ‘burn fast and burst into flames’ unless they are fireproofed. He added that fire could ‘spread extremely fast since they are mounted horizontally’.

The Guardian reported that concerns have also been raised about the number of exits from the bar’s basement where the celebrations took place and the fire started. Reportedly, the basement is accessible from the ground floor by a single staircase and several survivors revealed it was ‘narrow’.

Féraud, who said he would not be resigning despite being unable to explain why the bar hadn’t undergone fire safety inspections in such a long time, told the press that pyrotechnic devices would be banned indoors.

At the press conference, he said that when the owners renovated the bar they did not require a permit, which was when the sound insulation foam was stuck on the ceiling.

‘There were never any checks on this soundproofing foam. Our security agents did not consider it necessary.’

The town’s mayor also told the press that the bar’s maximum capacity was 200 people, with emergency exits designed to support 100 people on the ground floor and the same number in the basement. However, he did not know whether the basement exit was working when the fire started.

A France 24 report mentions a video filmed by a member of the public during the 2019 New Year’s Eve celebrations, which reveals that the risk posed by the sound insulation foam had been known for many years. In the video, a bar employee is heard saying ‘Watch out for the foam!’ when champagne bottles with sparklers are brought out.

While 21 of the 40 who died were Swiss nationals, others from France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Romania and Turkey were also among the dead. The Guardian reports that the people who died were aged between 14 and 39, with the average age being 19. Of the 116 people injured in the blaze, 83 remained in hospital to receive treatment for severe burns.

Source: IOSH Magazine

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