By Ella Lagacé Edwards (Y13)
I wanted to begin by firstly acknowledging those who have been affected by the New Year’s Crans-Montana fire, whether directly or indirectly. This is a difficult time for many of us, a time to grieve, remember, and reflect on the tragic accident that took the lives and health of many people. Some of the young deceased were connected closely to our school community; they were our friends and our families. For those of us who want to find support within our community, please know that we can count on our family, friends, teachers, and staff members to be there to help and support us.
Secondly, I believe it’s extremely important to deeply thank and cherish the incredibly brave and skillful medical personnel and police officers who have worked day and night since the accident took place, doing their very best to save the lives of the injured in the hospitals and ensure that every family gets the chance to give a proper goodbye to those deceased. It is also thanks to the local journalists and news agents that we have been able to follow every step of the event online and stay aware of the safety precautions that will be enacted as a result of this event.
Lastly, we were shown a great example of how not all of social media is inherently bad and how these platforms were able to connect people together, help those searching for their missing loved ones, and form a large population of support.
Below is an overview of the events using sources like the RTS and the BBC.
As I’m sure many of you know, a tragic accident occurred in Switzerland, only a 2-hour drive away from us, on the night of New Year’s Eve. Around 1:30 am on January 1st a bar called Le Constellation caught fire in Crans-Montana, a Swiss mountain resort. Like many of us I woke up that morning oblivious to what was happening, until I opened my phone as usual and saw the front page live article on the RTS, SwissInfo, the BBC, the Guardian, the New York Times, and many other news companies around the world.
The bar had been full of people celebrating New Year’s throughout the night. Witnesses and video footage show champagne bottles being shared amongst the crowd, tall sparklers placed on top of them.
The current theory is that the sparklers were drawn too close to the ceiling of the bar and caught onto soundproofing foam. Experts say what happened next was a flashover, a phenomenon that occurs in mostly enclosed spaces that entraps the smoke inside and accumulates heat on the walls, floor, and furniture. The heat induces pyrolysis, which chemically decomposes surfaces, releasing flammable gases into the air. Once the area has reached a certain temperature, any contact with air causes everything to spontaneously combust and form a large ball of fire. This process would’ve only taken 1 minute to happen within Le Constellation bar.
Around 40 people have died, and 115 have been injured due to the fire, many with severe third-degree burns. The incredible Swiss medical teams answered rapidly, bringing 40 ambulances, 10 helicopters, and 150 emergency responders to the site. Many of the injured were brought to the Sion hospital in Valais; others were moved further to the Lausanne and Geneva hospitals, as well as the Zurich hospital. As of a few days ago, the police have managed to identify all 40 deceased, with several of them being international tourists from France, Italy, Belgium, Romania, Türkiye, Portugal, and the UK.
It was revealed soon after that the ages of people at the bar that night ranged from 14 to 39 years old, and some of the deceased and injured are reported to have been under 16 years old. Legal action has commenced against the owners of Le Constellation for allowing underage teenagers into their facility, as well as for not having the proper safety procedures to deal with the fire.
In addition to allowing underage teenagers on the premises, the bar had not undergone regulatory inspections since 2019, which goes against local safety laws that require annual checks for all buildings. It is possible that it is because of this negligence that the interior of the building was too outdated for current safety procedures involving fires.
Today, the 9th of January, Switzerland is holding a national day of mourning for the victims of the recent disaster. Now more than ever, we need to continue to support each other, lean on our community, and offer kindness to those who need it most.