New footage reveals the speed and force of the deadly Crans-Montana bar fire

Updated 17 August 2026, 14:30 CEST — CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland: Newly circulated footage shows a rapidly expanding ball of fire sweeping through Le Constellation bar during the 1 January 2026 blaze that killed 41 people and injured 115, according to La Libre and an analysis of surveillance material reported by Le Temps.

The images add visual detail to an already established sequence. Le Temps reported that police reconstructed the fire from the bar’s surveillance recordings and found that only one minute and 38 seconds separated the first sparks from the point at which the remaining cameras stopped providing usable images. The footage shows fire spreading across acoustic foam after pyrotechnic candles attached to champagne bottles approached the basement ceiling, according to Le Temps and earlier reporting by the Associated Press.

The images document the violence of the Crans-Montana fire, but they do not by themselves establish criminal responsibility. The Valais public prosecutor is investigating suspected negligent homicide, negligent bodily injury and negligent arson. In a February statement, the prosecutor said the inquiry covered the bar’s operators as well as the current head of the municipality’s security service and a former municipal safety official. All remain entitled to the presumption of innocence.

The wider significance lies in the speed of the transition from a small ceiling fire to a room-wide blaze. The Valais government described the event as a flashover, an abrupt stage at which accumulated heat and combustible gases ignite across an enclosed space. Its emergency services deployed more than 150 medical responders, 42 ambulances and 13 helicopters on the night of the disaster, according to the canton.

The fire also had a direct Belgian dimension. De Morgen reported that one Belgian was among the injured and that patients from the disaster were transferred through Melsbroek for treatment in Belgian hospitals. That connection remains secondary to the continuing Swiss investigation and the long recovery facing survivors.

The new material will now form part of public scrutiny surrounding evacuation routes, fire-protection materials, pyrotechnics and municipal inspections. The Valais authorities have already prohibited pyrotechnic devices inside venues open to the public. Prosecutors have not announced final conclusions, charges or a trial timetable, and those decisions remain the next decisive steps.