Swiss bar that caught fire had not been inspected since 2019

Le Constellation bar had not been inspected since 2019 Keystone-SDA

The last inspection of the fire-ravaged Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana took place in 2019. The ski resort's town council says it bitterly regrets this, citing a failure to carry out periodic inspections over the period 2020-2025.

The bar’s fire safety measures were inspected in 2016, 2018, and 2019, the municipal council announced on Tuesday during a press conference. These inspections resulted in the requirement for “specific changes.” The council did not elaborate on the nature of these changes in its statement. It expressed its “deepest regret” that no further inspections have been conducted since then.

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Nicolas Féraud, mayor of Crans-Montana, told the media on Tuesday that there was negligence on the part of the bar operator and a reckless risk culture that put customers and staff at risk.

He said that the municipality’s security service had “never received an alert” about any problems in the bar. He also confirmed that there was an emergency door in the basement, but could not say whether it was open, closed or blocked.

According to the local authority, a single fire extinguisher was sufficient for this type and size of establishment. To their knowledge, there was no alarm system in the bar, which they said was not necessary for this type of establishment.

No more pyrotechnics

The municipal council announced that it has imposed a ban on the use of pyrotechnic devices of any kind in enclosed areas throughout the municipality.

It has also decided to commission a specialist external firm to carry out an immediate inspection of all public establishments in the municipality, including the quality of materials even though it is not required by law.

In its press release, the municipality of Crans-Montana stated that 1,400 fire inspections had been carried out in the municipality in 2025 alone, while “bitterly regretting having discovered a failure to carry out periodic inspections of the Le Constellation bar over the period 2020-2025”.

Maximum 200 people

On Tuesday, the municipal officials presented the factual elements in its possession that were submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (60 documents). The research covered almost 60 years of municipal archives. These documents detail all the administrative procedures relating to the bar, whose origins (1967) and transformation (2015) both predate the creation of the municipality of Crans-Montana in 2017.

The reports mention a capacity limit of 100 people for the ground floor premises and 100 people for the basement. In September 2025, a specialist external firm carried out an acoustic study of the Le Constellation bar and “confirmed compliance with anti-noise standards, without identifying any other problems”, according to the municipality.

“The courts will decide what influence such a failure had in the chain of causality that led to the tragedy,” the municipal council stressed. The local authority also said that it would “assume all responsibility as determined by the courts”. It will “continue to do everything in its power to ensure that such a tragedy does not happen again”.

Adapted from French by DeepL/ac

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