On 1 January 2026 at 01:26 (CET), during New Year celebrations, a fire broke out at Le Constellation bar in the ski-resort town of Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland. Forty-one people died in the fire, and 115 others were injured, with 83 initially being treated for severe burns. Intensive care units in Valais reached capacity, and victims were transported to hospitals in other parts of Switzerland and to other European countries. A national day of mourning was observed on 9 January 2026 in memory of the victims.
Swiss authorities consider it likely that the ceiling caught fire after lit sparklers or more specifically gerbs attached to champagne bottles were held aloft in celebration. A criminal investigation was opened against the bar's owners.
Background
Bar
A year-round bar, nightclub, and café in Crans-Montana, Le Constellation could accommodate 300 people on two levels—a ground floor and a basement—plus 40 on the terrace. The basement bar had a shisha and smoking area, and TV screens for viewing sports events.
It had a mostly younger clientele, because it had no entrance fee, and primarily served locals, rather than tourists. Swiss media reported that bar guests had complained on ratings platforms about poor treatment of personnel and a lack of professionalism.
Owners
The bar was acquired and remodelled in 2015 by Jacques and Jessica Moretti, a married French couple from Corsica who own several establishments in the region. They were economically successful, driving expensive Maserati, Bentley, and Porsche cars. They were investigated in 2020 on the suspicion of the misuse of COVID-19 relief funds, but charges were dropped when they could prove that the Maserati they bought shortly after obtaining the funds was on the books of their bar.
French media reported that Jacques Moretti was previously, in France, involved in various offences relating to prostitution, kidnapping and unlawful detention. In 2005, he served two years in prison for fraud, and in 2008, he was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment for "aggravated pimping". Valaisan law requires that the licence needed to operate a bar shall be granted only to those who "have not been convicted of any offence that could pose a risk to the operation of accommodation and catering services".
Fire
Police said that more than 100 people were inside the bar when the fire began, though the exact number was not known at the time. A photo obtained by French media shows a waitress wearing a crash helmet and holding up two bottles of champagne adorned with lit "fountain candle" sparklers (more specifically lit gerbs), who was being carried on the shoulders of a barman wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. The sparks were centimetres from the ceiling, which then caught fire. Immediate attempts to extinguish it by hitting the ceiling with an item of clothing failed.
Within seconds of the fire's start, people in the queue to enter saw smoke billowing out; ten seconds later, "an immense fire blast" occurred. The ceiling appeared to be clad in acoustic foam, which several fire experts noted could have contributed to the fire's rapid spread if the foam panels were not flame-retardant. Such materials can also produce dense and toxic smoke. Officials reported the fire rapidly progressed into a flashover, a phenomenon where nearly all combustible materials in an enclosed space simultaneously ignite, engulfing the area in flames.
People in the basement nightclub attempted to escape up a narrow flight of stairs and through a small door. The speed of the fire's spread prevented people from reaching the emergency exits, leading to a blockage at the main one. Survivors' statements and local accounts led to uncertainty over whether the basement emergency exit was accessible during the fire. Some resorted to smashing windows, while one bystander who rushed in to help said that he saw people "burning from head to foot, no clothes any more". Many victims were so severely burned they were no longer recognisable.
The Valais cantonal police said that authorities were first alerted at 01:30 CET because of smoke emerging from the bar. Police arrived at 01:32, and firefighters arrived at the scene immediately thereafter. In total, 150 personnel, 10 helicopters and 40 ambulances were deployed to the scene. Police cordoned off the disaster area and imposed a no-fly zone over the town, and the Valais cantonal government declared a state of emergency. Triage centres were set up in neighbouring bars and a UBS branch.
Victims
A day after the fire, Swiss authorities confirmed that 40 people had died and 115 others were injured. The total number of injured was later revised to 116. The death toll increased to 41 following the death of a Swiss national on 31 January. Several of the victims were foreign tourists. Eighty-three of the injured suffered severe burns, in some cases affecting over 60 per cent of their bodies. The majority of the victims were young. The ages of the dead ranged from 14 years to 39, with half under the age of 18. The Italian Air Force repatriated the remains of several victims from Sion Airport.
A reception centre and specialised hotline were established to provide support for affected families. Air ambulances transported injured persons to hospitals in Sion and Geneva; at least 22 and 12 victims, respectively, were transferred to the national burn centres in Lausanne and Zurich. The intensive care units in Valais reached full capacity, causing patients to be transported to other hospitals around the country. Hospitals throughout Romandy were overwhelmed with burn patients, most of whom were in severe condition.
Switzerland requested emergency assistance through the European Union's Civil Protection Mechanism. Twenty-four patients were transported to hospitals in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland. In Italy, a burn unit was opened at the Ospedale Niguarda Ca' Granda in Milan. Seven members of the football team of Lutry and a girlfriend of one of the players were killed in the fire, while five other FC Lutry players were injured. Collège Champittet confirmed that several of its students and alumni died in the fire. Among the injured was Tahirys Dos Santos, a 19‑year‑old FC Metz footballer who was transferred to a specialist burns unit in Stuttgart, Germany, with severe injuries. The bar's co‑owner was present as a guest and sustained light burns to her arm. By 2 January, authorities had identified 113 of the 116 injured. Many victims hospitalised were in critical condition with third-degree burns; officials at Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) confirmed severe burns and trauma consistent with a flashover event. By 4 January, all fatalities were identified. All injured were identified by 5 January; the number was reduced to 116 after police found that three patients who were hospitalised for reasons unrelated to the fire had been added to the list in error.
According to the head of disaster victim identification Switzerland, Christian Brenzikofer, a temporary mortuary was established where DNA samples, fingerprints and dental records were collected. These were matched with ante-mortem information provided by relatives to identify victims.
Investigation
Cantonal ministers, police, and the cantonal attorney general, Béatrice Pilloud, held a press conference on the morning of 1 January. Pilloud said that an attack was not being considered as the cause of the fire. That evening, the cantonal authorities and the president of the Swiss Confederation, Guy Parmelin, who had visited the disaster site, held a second press conference.
Authorities stated that the investigation would examine renovations carried out at the premises, the condition of fire-extinguishing systems and escape routes, and the number of people present in the building at the time the fire began.
Cause of the fire
At a press conference the day after the fire, Pilloud said that, after reviewing photos and videos, "everything leads us to believe that the fire was started from sparkling candles or sparklers that were put on bottles of champagne that were moved too close to the ceiling."
Fire safety deficiencies
Pilloud said that the investigation would determine whether all safety standards had been met. Swiss fire safety regulations are generally stricter than those in other parts of Europe. They require, among other things, that public venues with a capacity of 200 people or more have several (emergency) exits, that bars have smoke exhaust systems, that furnishings in public venues be certified as non-flammable, and that any interior pyrotechnics receive permission from the authorities under very strict conditions.
Fire safety experts said that, based on photos of the bar's interior, the insulating material had not been installed correctly, which likely contributed to the rapid spread of the fire. They said that the insulation panels appeared to be made of a highly flammable material. A fire safety engineer said that Swiss regulations strictly prohibit leaving such combustible material visible; it must be covered to prevent rapid flame spread. Preliminary assessments suggest the material at Le Constellation was not laid according to these safety standards.
Footage from New Year's Eve 2019/2020, later broadcast by RTS, showed an employee warning patrons to 'watch out for the foam' as lit sparklers or more specifically gerbs were raised toward the basement ceiling, indicating that staff were aware of the fire risk posed by the ceiling material. The bar previously promoted its fire effects through video advertisements. A lawyer representing the family of a deceased employee said that the staff member concerned had received no safety training and was unaware of the fire risk posed by the ceiling. Although the bar's maximum capacity was 200 people, the municipal report indicated that the management advertised the possibility of accommodating up to 400 individuals through certain websites and social media platforms. Police are investigating whether fire extinguishers were present at the scene at the time of the incident. Former employees have claimed that fire extinguishers were stored in a locked room. The underground bar was not equipped with a sprinkler system. The mayor of Crans-Montana stated that a fire alarm was not mandatory for a bar of that specific size.
When the bar's operators took over in 2015, they reportedly renovated the premises themselves. While in custody, Jacques Moretti told prosecutors that he had purchased the acoustic foam from a do-it-yourself (DIY) store and installed it himself during those renovations. Social media images from that period suggest the staircase connecting the basement bar to the ground floor was made narrower, creating a bottleneck. The interior renovation appears to have lacked official authorisation. Gian Lorenzo Cornado, the Italian ambassador to Switzerland, expressed his suspicion that the stairs leading to the main exit had been narrowed to make room for additional tables. Furthermore, the main exit door opened inward and not outward, as required by fire safety regulations. According to media reports, 34 of the victims were found piled up at the bottom of the staircase, and witnesses told investigators that opening the ground-floor door was followed by a loud "whoosh" as flames surged upward.
In January 2026, parts of a building permit application submitted on 19 December 2025 became public. The documents included older architectural plans showing that an interior door on the upper floor measured 150 cm and opened inward rather than outward, contrary to fire safety requirements, and that the veranda door also opened inward. The renovation works completed in 2015, as reflected in these plans, involved changes to the terrace, modifications to the staircase and the installation of sound-absorbing foam panels. Both the 2025 application and an earlier one from 2015 concerned only the terrace, and no public permit application for interior alterations could be found.
A former bartender and witness said that the emergency exit in the basement was "always locked" during his visits. The mother of one of the victims stated on 6 January that her daughter, a former waitress at Constellation who was familiar with the emergency exit, was found in front of that door, which had been blocked. Moretti told prosecutors that a service door had been locked from the inside on the night of the fire and that he found several people lying behind it after forcing it open.