Local authorities in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana have acknowledged a serious breakdown in safety oversight after a fire at a bar-nightclub killed 40 people and injured 116, revealing that no safety inspection had been conducted at the venue since 2019. The admission has intensified scrutiny of both municipal regulators and the owners of the Constellation bar, where indoor sparklers are believed to have ignited the ceiling.
Nicolas Féraud, chairman of the Crans-Montana council, said officials had failed to detect that mandatory fire and safety checks were not carried out for several years, despite inspections being required annually. He described the lapse as a critical failure, adding that the commune deeply regretted the oversight and had no clear explanation for how it occurred. When the bar was last inspected in 2019, soundproof foam on the ceiling was deemed acceptable and the venue was not required to install a fire alarm because of its size.
The blaze is thought to have started when “fountain sparklers” placed in bottles during celebrations set fire to the ceiling material. Footage broadcast by Swiss national broadcaster RTS showed a barman warning customers as early as 2020 to be careful of the ceiling foam while waving sparklers. Féraud said the video demonstrated negligence by the bar’s operators, arguing that their actions endangered both staff and patrons.
The Valais canton prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation into the bar’s owners, Jacques Moretti, 49, and his wife Jessica, 40, on suspicion of negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm, and negligent arson. French prosecutors have also launched a parallel investigation after nine French nationals were killed and 21 seriously injured in the fire. French justice officials confirmed that Moretti, who bought the bar in 2015, had previous convictions dating back two decades, including offences related to prostitution and fraud.
Despite the revelations, local officials described Moretti as an active member of the Crans-Montana community, while neighbours in his Corsican hometown of Bastia recalled him favourably from his time running a bar there. In response to the fire, the council has barred him from managing another venue he owns in the resort and imposed an immediate ban on the indoor use of sparklers or fireworks.
Investigators are now examining whether safety regulations were breached during renovations carried out after Moretti purchased the venue, including the installation of potentially flammable ceiling materials, the maintenance of emergency exits, and alleged narrowing of the staircase leading from the basement. Survivors have said the fire overtook victims as they struggled to escape up the stairs. Moretti has denied wrongdoing, telling the newspaper 24 Heures that everything had been done according to the rules and that the bar had been inspected several times over the past decade.
The Constellation bar, renovated in 2015, had a maximum capacity of 200 people, split evenly between the ground floor and basement. While officials conceded that inspections at the venue had failed, they said more than 1,400 fire safety inspections were carried out elsewhere in the town and surrounding hamlets in 2025 alone. An acoustic inspection at the bar in September last year reportedly found no problems.
As Switzerland prepares for a national day of mourning, President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders are expected to attend a memorial ceremony in Crans-Montana on Friday, underscoring the scale of the tragedy and the broader questions it has raised about safety enforcement in public venues.
