Of
Elisa Messina
The flames quickly spread through the room. The authorities rule out the attack. The hypothesis of sparkling candles on Champagne bottles and questions about safety measures
A fire would have spread quickly inside the basement room causing explosions and other fires that have transformed that bar room «Le Constellation» in a burning brazier. Leaving no escape for dozens and dozens of girls and boys who were celebrating New Year’s Eve. This would be the dynamics of the Crans-Montana tragedy which at 1.30am on 1 January 2026 caused the death of 47 people while others 100 were injured. And this is how State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer described it on Swiss TV. Investigators are working to identify precisely the causes of the disaster, collecting the testimonies of those who were on site. It certainly wasn’t an attack: Attorney General Beatrice Pilloud “absolutely” ruled out this hypothesis during the first press conference.
But then what triggered the devastating fire? And how was it possible that the flames spread so quickly, passing from the basement to the ground floor of the room and trapping people? Among the first hypotheses we talked about fireworks o firecrackers exploded inside, as declared by the Italian ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, and also of sparkling candles lit by waiters on bottles of Champagnebut the investigating authorities are not forthcoming on these points.
Another issue that is being focused on to understand the severity of the disaster and the resulting death toll is that of safety measures present in the rooma basement, and the materials used after the recent renovation: perhaps the fire prevention systems were not activated in time? And why were the young people trapped? It really was there only one exit and moreover narrow as emerges from some testimonies? Each hypothesis is carefully evaluated.
The statements of those present help to frame the dynamics. A witness, Jeoffroy D’Amecourt, would deny the fireworks hypothesis: in fact, he told Swiss Radio and Television that he heard “a very loud explosion, around 1.30 am and it absolutely didn’t seem to be caused by a firework, the noise was really different”. But it is also true that the explosion, or rather, the multiple explosions, occurred when the fire had already started. What is certain is that the fire immediately engulfed the crowded space by the very young people who were partying: at least 200 people in a not particularly large venue. The deputy mayor of Ascona, Michela Ris, quoted by the Swiss media, said, «acquaintances told me that some kids they left the room bloodiedsome without clothes, it was real carnage.”
Among the testimonies that contribute to reconstructing the dynamics is that of two young French people involved in the fire: they told BfmTv that the fire started from some birthday candles lit by the waiters upstairs bottles of champagnejust before midnight. «One was brought too close to the ceiling, which caught fire. In a few seconds everything was on fire, the ceiling was made of wood.”
Further testimony from a tourist confirmed the presence of sparkling stars lit on the bottles: one of these, he says, was held in the hand of a girl sitting astride the shoulders of a young man and the sparks would haveImmediately set an element or beam of the false ceiling on fire – probably made of wood or other flammable material – spreading rapidly in the environment.
And then there’s the question cramped environment: «The exit door was too small for all the people present. Someone broke a window to allow people to escape”, the two girls interviewed by French TV then said, explaining that help arrived “in a few minutes”. Confirmed by other testimonies was the chaotic escape from the place now on fire, and the windows broken to open a passage in front of a single, narrow exit. In the press conference held in the evening, prosecutor Pilloud did not go too far in her judgments but confirmed that the exit staircase was narrow.
To describe the dynamics of the fire, the cantonal authorities told the Swiss media that inside the Crans-Montana restaurant there would have been a “flashover” occurredor a “very dangerous phenomenon in which fire spreads suddenly and violently in closed environments, causing one or more explosions”. This term refers to the sudden transition from a localized fire to a generalized fire. A fire can, for example, start from an appliance in a room and if heat builds up under the ceiling, the combustion gases spread into the space and the temperature rises very quickly to several hundred degrees. This effect can cause the simultaneous and sudden ignition of other combustible materialslike those present in a false ceiling, with rapid flame spread. At that point survival is practically impossible.
January 1, 2026 (changed January 1, 2026 | 5:55 pm)
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
