40 killed and over 100 injured after Le Constellation bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana caught fire in the early hours of January 1st. The bar’s last fire safety inspection was conducted at some point in 2019. Meaning that the bar hasn’t undergone a fire safety inspection in 6 years.

According to CBS News, investigators believe that, “festive sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fire…when they came too close to the ceiling”(CBS News Jan 6). Along with that, authorities are looking into whether the soundproofing material met Switzerland’s fire-resistance standards for public venues. They’re also questioning if the bar we legally allowed to have the sparkling candles ignited in an indoor environment.

Switzerland authorities have opened a criminal investigation on the 2 managers, a French couple named Jacques Moretti and Jessica Moretti. The two are suspected of involuntary homicide, involuntary bodily harm, and involuntary causing a fire.

According to The New York Times, the couple’s first public comments stated that they were “devastated and overcome with grief.” In the same article they made another statement that was sent by their lawyer that said, “Rest assured that we will cooperate fully in this regard and that we will not attempt to shirk our responsibilities in any way,”(Aurelien Breeden, Ségolène Le Stradic Jan 6).

Authorities stated that it’s the responsibility of  the municipality to make sure safety inspections are conducted regularly. According to Trans-Montana municipality,  Le Constellation fire inspections were conducted in 2016, 2018, and 2019 and modifications have been requested, however there were no issues with the soundproofing measures. After the fire the council reviewed some documents and discovered that the bar has not had a fire safety check between the years 2020 and 2025. Though last year in September an external expert had been asked to carry out a soundproofing analysis and it was concluded that no anti-noise rules were being broken.

There was difficulty identifying the victims due to the severity of their burns requiring families to supply authorities with DNA samples. By January 11th all 40 dead bodies were identified as well as the 116 people who were injured on January 12th.