A devastating fire at Le Constellation Bar in Crans-Montana early on 1 January 2026, killing at least 47 people and injuring more than 115 others during New Year’s celebrations, with authorities investigating a sparkler-topped champagne bottle as the likely ignition source amid rapid flames and a chaotic crowd surge.
At least 47 people died and over 115 were injured, many severely, when a fire broke out at 01:30 CET on 1 January 2026 at Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Valais canton, Switzerland, as revellers marked the New Year; eyewitnesses described a sparkler on a champagne bottle held near the wooden ceiling igniting a flashover and explosions, according to Valais cantonal police and Wikipedia reports on the incident.
Blaze Erupts in Packed Nightclub
The fire occurred in the basement nightclub of Le Constellation bar, a popular venue in the ski resort town of Crans-Montana, shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day, with authorities alerted at 01:30 CET due to smoke emerging from the building, as stated by Valais cantonal police; police arrived at 01:32, followed immediately by firefighters, who deployed 150 personnel, 10 helicopters, and 40 ambulances to the scene, according to Wikipedia’s account of the 2026 Crans-Montana bar fire.
As reported by Lisa Desjardins for PBS NewsHour, the blaze tore through the packed bar just after 1:30 a.m., with witnesses describing people screaming and lying on the ground, likely dead, amid a sudden turn from celebration to tragedy.
Emergency Response and Official Measures
Valais cantonal police cordoned off the entire town of Crans-Montana and imposed a no-fly zone overhead, while the cantonal government declared a state of emergency; triage centres were established in neighbouring bars and a UBS bank branch, where tablecloths from one bar were used to cover the dead, as detailed in Wikipedia’s coverage of the incident.
Chaos in Escape Amid Narrow Exits
A crowd surge hampered evacuation as patrons rushed from the basement nightclub up a narrow flight of stairs and through a narrow door; PBS NewsHour reporting by Lisa Desjardins quoted a witness stating, “The stairs are pretty easy to get through since they are wide but after that there is a small door where everyone is pushing,” highlighting the bottleneck that exacerbated the disaster, with authorities noting a likely explosion and flashover, according to the same PBS transcript.
Investigation into Fire’s Cause Underway
Swiss authorities have ruled out a terror attack and are probing the fire’s origin, with eyewitnesses reporting a waitress standing on a waiter’s shoulders holding a bottle of champagne topped with a sparkler, its flames mere centimetres from the wooden ceiling that ignited rapidly; the fire engulfed the nightclub within about 10 seconds, leading to one or multiple explosions via flashover, as per Valais authorities’ statement cited in Wikipedia and PBS NewsHour reports.
The incident, one of Switzerland’s deadliest fires in recent memory, prompted an immediate and massive response from emergency services, leaving the ski resort community reeling from the loss of at least 47 lives and injuries to more than 115 individuals, with the probe into the sparkler incident continuing as stated by official sources.
