Over 40 dead at Swiss Alp ski resort from a fire in a bar

7,284 Views | 68 Replies | Last: 6 days ago by bonfarr
The Fall Guy
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6:55a, 1/1/26
AG
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c8xdxvj2qjdt

Saying a waitress put a birthday cake on top of champagne bottles and caught the ceiling on fire. Political because multiple nationalities are dead. What kind of ceiling catches fire from candles. Wonder if there was cloth hanging from the ceiling.
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BQ78
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In reply to The Fall Guy • 7:05a, 1/1/26
AG
That is crazy that it would happen that quick with just a candle, makes me think there was something highly flammable on the ceiling besides dry wood.

From the looks of that bench it was a very hot fire.

Happy New Year, not in Montana, Switzerland.
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bonfarr
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7:37a, 1/1/26
AG
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15426855/Moment-ceiling-catches-fire-sparking-inferno-killed-40-people-injured-100-Swiss-luxury-nightclub-witness-describes-seeing-people-burning.html

This article has some good pictures of the ceiling on fire and has found promo videos of the bar using sparklers on top of champagne bottles.

You had several hundred people trying to squeeze out of one exit with this narrow pathway. Had to have been brutal with the heat, smoke, and panic.
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ts5641
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7:55a, 1/1/26
Prayers for them and their families. Can't imagine that kind of horror. That is literally my worst nightmare. Sounds similar to the Great White concert. Not near enough exits.
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Kyle Field Shade Chaser
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In reply to The Fall Guy • 8:00a, 1/1/26
AG
With the exception of an explosion, how could patrons not exit a restaurant catching on fire?

Blocked exit?
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TrumpsBarber
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8:10a, 1/1/26
Just one exit with so many people in a panic created a bottle neck.
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Eliminatus
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In reply to Kyle Field Shade Chaser • 8:15a, 1/1/26
AG
Kyle Field Shade Chaser said:
With the exception of an explosion, how could patrons not exit a restaurant catching on fire?

Blocked exit?

Many not realizing the danger until too late and then panicking and causing a rush which leads to bottlenecks/blockages and crush injuries. Article mentions it looked like foam insulation on the ceiling is what went up first. That stuff is horrendous and is the culprit behind our own Station nightclub disaster than is now used for training and set so many new policies and regulations in motion.
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Eliminatus
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In reply to ts5641 • 8:18a, 1/1/26
AG
ts5641 said:
Prayers for them and their families. Can't imagine that kind of horror. That is literally my worst nightmare. Sounds similar to the Great White concert. Not near enough exits.

Was discussing it some on Reddit and had to keep reminding some that the Swiss don't have our NFPA and other building standards and codes. Not sure what they have in place exactly but I know pretty much all of our stuff is written in blood, unfortunately. Most widespread safety regulations are.
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Yesterday
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In reply to bonfarr • 8:24a, 1/1/26
AG
bonfarr said:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15426855/Moment-ceiling-catches-fire-sparking-inferno-killed-40-people-injured-100-Swiss-luxury-nightclub-witness-describes-seeing-people-burning.html

This article has some good pictures of the ceiling on fire and has found promo videos of the bar using sparklers on top of champagne bottles.

You had several hundred people trying to squeeze out of one exit with this narrow pathway. Had to have been brutal with the heat, smoke, and panic.


That picture gives me the creeps. Must have been awful.
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CanyonAg77
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In reply to BQ78 • 8:39a, 1/1/26
AG
The article says it was a sparkler, not a candle. Sparklers burn at around 2000 degrees, so...
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Burdizzo
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9:13a, 1/1/26
AG
After the Great White concert tragedy I usually look for exit routes in most public buildings.

Last year I went to an event at the AlamoDome. They event only used about half the capacity. However there were souvenir vendors in the concourses that had been allowed to set up blocking the bottom of the stairways. If there had been an emergency in the building with hundreds of people rushing down the stairs, this would have been a real problem. I sent a message to the city that whoever was managing the AlamoDome needed to get their act together.
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VaultingChemist
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9:21a, 1/1/26
AG
Recent photo from inside the bar prior to the fire….
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YouBet
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In reply to Burdizzo • 9:24a, 1/1/26
AG
Boy, that can't be following fire code.
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Kenneth_2003
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In reply to Burdizzo • 9:25a, 1/1/26
AG
Stuff like this and look at your local department store or home center (looking at you Blue and Orange). The amount of stuff they've stuck on the end caps and the front aisle between the regular aisles and the registers is out of control. It would be a problem if there's ever an emergency.

Spent about a decade as a VolFF and I too always look for the exits. We were at House of Blues for REK right before Christmas and a buddy of mine and I were taking stock of the exits as well. That place was packed.

edit to add... Next time send the pic to the office of the Fire Marshall. It'll be within SAFD not City Hall.
https://www.sa.gov/Directory/Departments/SAFD/About/Divisions/Fire-Prevention
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CrackerJackAg
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In reply to Kenneth_2003 • 9:44a, 1/1/26
AG
Kenneth_2003 said:
Stuff like this and look at your local department store or home center (looking at you Blue and Orange). The amount of stuff they've stuck on the end caps and the front aisle between the regular aisles and the registers is out of control. It would be a problem if there's ever an emergency.

Spent about a decade as a VolFF and I too always look for the exits. We were at House of Blues for REK right before Christmas and a buddy of mine and I were taking stock of the exits as well. That place was packed.

edit to add... Next time send the pic to the office of the Fire Marshall. It'll be within SAFD not City Hall.
https://www.sa.gov/Directory/Departments/SAFD/About/Divisions/Fire-Prevention


No shortage of exits at Home Depot.

Annoying AF trying to get a big cart around. In an emergency you might not even touch anyone trying to leave.

I don't know **** so I had to research this real quick.

100,000 sqft. 500 is a weekend crowd
5 major public entrances
Code requires a fire exit every 250ft
Several employee entrances
Loading docks with roll up doors
Trash door

Average store has 15-20 entrances/exits

That's 210sqft/person
Crowded bar is 7ft per person.

THAT SAID I fully get where you are coming from. I know my entrances and exits at all times.
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Bazooka Joe
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In reply to Burdizzo • 9:50a, 1/1/26
AG
Somebody asked how this could happen and my mind went immediately to the great white concert. There are pictures of people stacked up and blocking the exit. I'm not posting it…still wish I hadn't see. It.

One person falls at the exit, everyone at the back is pushing forward, more people fall. More crowd surge from behind where people are panicking. It's like a Chinese finger trap. The harder the surge, the worse the clog. Impossible to clear unless the people panicked at the rear backup which goes against all human instinct.

Awful way to go.
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EnviroAg96
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11:35a, 1/1/26
AG
Egress bottleneck > crowd collapse into the bottleneck > crowd crush. It's not the first and won't be the last. There was an old school fire in Ohio in early 1900s where like 50 kids died at an exit. Many other examples.
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Burdizzo
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In reply to Kenneth_2003 • 12:03p, 1/1/26
AG
San Antonio has a public services app to report stuff like potholes, graffiti, etc. I sent it in as a code violation and told them they need to forward it to the Fire Marshall. I don't go to the Dome often, but if I see it again I will definitely send to the SAFD. I saw several other things that didn't look right, but LSC is not my area of expertise.

I used to work at SAWS. The building they are in was originally built by Valero. One day I noticed the stairwell exit on the bottom floor opened inward, which is a violation. We had a safety campaign going on at the time, so I sent that in. The door was fixed within a week, but I never got a thank you for notifying anyone.
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Matt_ag98
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In reply to Burdizzo • 4:42p, 1/1/26
Burdizzo said:
San Antonio has a public services app to report stuff like potholes, graffiti, etc. I sent it in as a code violation and told them they need to forward it to the Fire Marshall. I don't go to the Dome often, but if I see it again I will definitely send to the SAFD. I saw several other things that didn't look right, but LSC is not my area of expertise.

I used to work at SAWS. The building they are in was originally built by Valero. One day I noticed the stairwell exit on the bottom floor opened inward, which is a violation. We had a safety campaign going on at the time, so I sent that in. The door was fixed within a week, but I never got a thank you for notifying anyone.

Used to work at SAWS? Man everyone I have ever met that was able to "get a job at SAWS" from a relative etc and work at the HQ there off 281 swore they were never gonna leave that sweet job!
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Burdizzo
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In reply to Matt_ag98 • 4:46p, 1/1/26
AG
Matt_ag98 said:
Burdizzo said:
San Antonio has a public services app to report stuff like potholes, graffiti, etc. I sent it in as a code violation and told them they need to forward it to the Fire Marshall. I don't go to the Dome often, but if I see it again I will definitely send to the SAFD. I saw several other things that didn't look right, but LSC is not my area of expertise.

I used to work at SAWS. The building they are in was originally built by Valero. One day I noticed the stairwell exit on the bottom floor opened inward, which is a violation. We had a safety campaign going on at the time, so I sent that in. The door was fixed within a week, but I never got a thank you for notifying anyone.

Used to work at SAWS? Man everyone I have ever met that was able to "get a job at SAWS" from a relative etc and work at the HQ there off 281 swore they were never gonna leave that sweet job!


And that was the reason I decided not to work there anymore.
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Trajan88
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In reply to VaultingChemist • 4:59p, 1/1/26
AG
Is that acoustic foam panels on some of the ceiling?

Isn't that what flash caught fire at that Rhode Island venue Great White played?
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flakrat
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In reply to Burdizzo • 5:42p, 1/1/26
AG
Burdizzo said:
After the Great White concert tragedy I usually look for exit routes in most public buildings.


Came here to post the same. The band used pyrotechnics and caught sound insulation foam on fire. Over 100 died and another 200 or so injured.

Similar situation where the exit became a bottleneck.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-station-nightclub-fire-rhode-island-what-happened-and-whos-to-blame/
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Eliminatus
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6:22p, 1/1/26
AG
More information is out and yeah, this is appearing to be a Station Nightclub 2.0 in similarity so far. Disgustingly so.

Basement fire with soundproofing foam that was ignited and flashed over. Only one egress that was quickly bottlenecked. No sprinklers that could be seen, etc.

Also seen reports that this was a 16 and up establishment that it was known you can lie about being 16. Victim age range is going to be horribly skewed downward is the current word.

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bam02
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6:32p, 1/1/26
AG
Uggh how horrific.
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Rubicante
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9:24p, 1/1/26
AG
In a world where even everyday folk know about the technical dangers of the Station fire due to many documentaries over the last 20 years, it's amazing that this has happened yet again.

The station nightclub fire only had one video (because someone happened to be there ironically doing a safety inspection video). In today's world of smartphone there's probably several horrific videos that will be put out if they haven't already.
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ABATTBQ11
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In reply to Burdizzo • 9:32p, 1/1/26
AG
Send it to the fire marshall. City won't do anything, but they'll be on someone's ass. We had one a few years ago insisting we redo a stairway because it was 1/8" too narrow by code for egress.
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Rapier108
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9:35p, 1/1/26
Incidents like this go back a lot more than just 20 years.

November 28, 1942, the Coconut Grove fire in Boston killed 492 people. Still the deadliest nightclub fire in US history.

December 30, 1903, the Iroquois Theatre fire killed 602 people.

Both involved crush events making the death toll far higher than it would have been from just from the fire alone.

Plenty of others with some going back to the 1800s and probably further. One would think we humans would have learned by now how to avoid creating such death traps.
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Buck Turgidson
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11:13p, 1/1/26
Read the lyrics to Smoke on the Water. Similar story. Moron in Switzerland burned down a casino during a Frank Zappa show by shooting a flare gun inside an older wooden structure.
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Yesterday
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6:48a, 1/2/26
AG
Pretty insane to see how something so deadly could have been so easily avoided. Like how about we not put sparklers on the flammable foam??
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BQ78
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In reply to Buck Turgidson • 6:49a, 1/2/26
AG
They ended up in the Grand Hotel, it was empty cold and bare.
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fc2112
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In reply to flakrat • 6:52a, 1/2/26
Me as well. I scope out the exits as soon as a I walk in. Most people will try to go out the same way they came in.
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bonfarr
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In reply to Yesterday • 8:24a, 1/2/26
AG
Yesterday said:
bonfarr said:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15426855/Moment-ceiling-catches-fire-sparking-inferno-killed-40-people-injured-100-Swiss-luxury-nightclub-witness-describes-seeing-people-burning.html

This article has some good pictures of the ceiling on fire and has found promo videos of the bar using sparklers on top of champagne bottles.

You had several hundred people trying to squeeze out of one exit with this narrow pathway. Had to have been brutal with the heat, smoke, and panic.


That picture gives me the creeps. Must have been awful.


This was a basement bar so the people trying to escape the smoke and flames would have had to go UP that flight of stairs to get to the exit doors. I can only imagine people making it halfway up those stairs only to get pulled back down and trampled by someone else trying to flee
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bonfarr
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8:49a, 1/2/26
AG




Reports said the ceiling collapsed pretty quickly so I wonder if there were people on the ground floor that fell to the basement level becoming trapped.
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Rossticus
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12:05p, 1/2/26
Maybe more people would have lived if they hadn't stood around with their phones to video the spread of the raging fire. Just a thought. Humanity is doomed.

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W
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12:09p, 1/2/26
AG
yes, major lack of situational awareness

plus incredible stupidity
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