{"id":224798,"date":"2026-01-03T07:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T07:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/224798\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T07:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T07:07:11","slug":"all-we-know-about-deadly-ski-resort-fire-and-why-it-spread-so-fast-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/224798\/","title":{"rendered":"All we know about deadly ski resort fire – and why it spread so fast | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flammable sound-proofing material is likely to blame for the rapid spread of the deadly fire at a Swiss ski resort, Sky News has been told. <\/p>\n

The disaster occurred during the early hours of Thursday at Le Constellation, a bar in the upmarket Alpine ski resort of Crans-Montana.<\/p>\n

At least 40 people died in the fire and 119 were injured, with several of those hurt in the blaze still in a life-threatening condition.<\/p>\n

Swiss President Guy Parmelin has described the fire as “one of the worst tragedies our country has ever experienced”.<\/p>\n

Here is all we know so far.<\/p>\n

Follow latest: ‘Around 40 people’ killed in Swiss ski resort fire<\/a><\/p>\n

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Image:
\n Photo shows woman on shoulders with sparklers in bottle before fire<\/p>\n

What happened?<\/p>\n

The incident occurred at roughly 1.30am local time (12.30am UK time) while guests were celebrating the start of 2026.<\/p>\n

Seconds after noticing the smoke, a witness contacted police, and the first officers had arrived by 1.32am, Valais Canton police commander Frederic Gisler said in a briefing on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The fire appeared to spread voraciously, prompting people to surge up a staircase towards an exit. Witnesses reported people screaming, climbing over each other and smashing windows in panic to escape.<\/p>\n

People outside described victims emerging with their hair or clothes burned off, and likened the scenes to a horror film.<\/p>\n

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\n Many of the victims are young people. Almost 120 more have been injured, with some remaining in a life-threatening condition.\n <\/p>\n

What caused the Swiss bar fire?<\/p>\n

On Friday, officials tentatively confirmed the theory that had been circulating about the cause of the fire.<\/p>\n

Valais attorney general Beatrice Pilloud said it “would appear” that the fire started from “sparkler candles, otherwise known as flares, which were placed on top of champagne bottles”.<\/p>\n

She added: “These flares were taken too close to the ceiling. This led to what is referred to as a flashover incident<\/a>, where the fire spread very rapidly.”<\/p>\n

Two French women who claim to have escaped from the burning venue told BFMTV<\/a> on Thursday: “In a few dozen seconds, the whole ceiling was on fire. Everything was made of wood.”<\/p>\n

But Ms Pilloud asked people not to speculate about a type of foam thought to have been on the ceiling and that may have enabled the fire to balloon so quickly.<\/p>\n

She said: “The investigation will seek to determine whether this foam was for safety, compliance and whether it is the cause of the fire or not.”<\/p>\n

‘Not at all fire-resistant’<\/p>\n

Retired London Fire Brigade Commander Steve Dudeney worked in the fire service for 31 years and is now a fire safety consultant.<\/p>\n

He told Sky News: “What you’ve got there is polyurethane foam, a sound-deadening material. I mean, effectively it’s not at all fire-resistant…<\/p>\n

“In fact, it’s an organic hydrocarbon, so it’s very flammable.<\/p>\n

“Once it’s on fire it will disintegrate, drop, you’ll have flaming droplets come off of it and it will spread a fire rapidly.<\/p>\n

“So anywhere that’s got that, anywhere on the walls or ceilings should have nothing like any type of naked flame anywhere near it.”<\/p>\n

What is a flashover fire?<\/p>\n

Swiss officials called the blaze an “embrasement generalise” or what English firefighters might call a flashover or backdraught.<\/p>\n

Exact definitions vary, but a flashover refers to a fire triggered by the release of combustible gases that then ignite violently.<\/p>\n

A backdraught describes an explosion that occurs when air reaches a fire in an enclosed space that has used up all the available oxygen.<\/p>\n

In both instances the fire can explode at a surprising speed.<\/p>\n

\"Emergency<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Emergency teams survey scene of fatal resort bar fire<\/p>\n

How many people have died or been injured?<\/p>\n

On Friday officials updated the figures concerning people caught up in the fire.<\/p>\n

The severity of the burns is making it difficult for officials to identify victims, and it also took time to remove all the bodies from the destroyed bar.<\/p>\n

Valais local government chief Mathias Reynard said in a news briefing that 40 people are known to have died so far.<\/p>\n

At least a further 119 people have been injured, many badly, and about half have been treated at the Valais Hospital. Some remain in a life-threatening condition.<\/p>\n

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\n The flames ripped through a ski resort bar Le Constellation, where people were celebrating in Crans-Montana.\n <\/p>\n

Mr Reynard called the numbers “deeply troubling” and acknowledged the “unbearable wait” for families to find out what has happened to their loved ones.<\/p>\n

Many of the victims were young people.<\/p>\n

The major incident saw a total of 13 helicopters, 42 ambulances, 150 paramedics and 70 firefighters mobilised to help.<\/p>\n

Leon Christe, who works in Crans-Montana, told Sky News<\/a> he was one of the first to the scene and tried to help as many people as possible by administering first aid.<\/p>\n

He said: “It was very chaotic and very sad. Everywhere, there were young people who needed help, some had their clothes burned off.<\/p>\n

“It was very traumatising.”<\/p>\n

\"Pic:<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Pic: AP<\/p>\n

Where did the incident happen?<\/p>\n

The bar is in Crans-Montana, in the Valais region at the heart of the Swiss Alps, which is popular with tourists from Britain and across Europe.<\/p>\n

It is 40km (25m) north of the Matterhorn, one of the most famous Alpine peaks, and approximately two hours from the Swiss capital of Bern.<\/p>\n

“This event took place in a place that is dedicated to life and joy… what an incredible and dreadful contrast,” the Swiss president said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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\n Sparklers likely caused Swiss bar fire\n <\/p>\n

What are the nationalities of the victims?<\/p>\n

Authorities have warned it may take “several days” to identify those who died due to the severity of the burns.<\/p>\n

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\n Young burn victims will suffer ‘long lasting injuries’\n <\/p>\n

A total of 113 of the 119 injured people have been identified, of whom:<\/p>\n

71 are Swiss14 are French11 Italian4 Serbian1 Bosnian1 Belgian1 Portuguese<\/p>\n

The identification of the dead is ongoing, and experts have resorted to dental and DNA records.<\/p>\n

Swiss police are cooperating with the governments of France, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Congo, Serbia, Turkey, Romania and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the first victim was named as 16-year-old Italian Emanuele Galeppini<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The UK embassy in Switzerland said on Thursday it had “not been approached for assistance” but would “continue to monitor the situation”.<\/p>\n

Charlotte Niddam, who previously attended Immanuel College in Hertfordshire, has been identified as among the missing. Her nationality is unclear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flammable sound-proofing material is likely to blame for the rapid spread of the deadly fire at a Swiss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-224798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}