Fire at Swiss ski resort bar

According to Wiki the bar had been open for 40 years and acquired by the current owners and remodelled in 2015

re the fire regs

Pilloud said that the probe would determine whether all safety standards were met.[52] Swiss fire safety regulations tend to be stricter than elsewhere in Europe.[53] They provide, among other things, that public venues holding 200 people or more must have several open exits, that bars must have smoke ventilation systems, that furnishings in public venues must be certified as non-flammable, and that any interior pyrotechnics require a permission by authorities issued only under very strict conditions.[53] The mayor of Crans-Montana, Nicolas Féraud, said at the press conference that there had been "annual or bi-annual" fire inspections of the bar by town authorities, but declined to answer questions about details of the inspections.
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You'd think it'd have had to have complied if it was having inspections that often, but I'm sure if there was any issues it'll come out shortly.
 
Its such an awful tragedy. My initial reaction was wtf, but I get why they don't react initially in the way we might expect or think we would instinctively.
People often rate public speaking as their number one fear, more than swimming with sharks. There is a deep instinct in humans to follow the crowd and
not be ostracised. Humans are incredibly susceptible to what other people do and will take their cues from others / the group.
The music should have been switched off as soon as possible.
 
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adam cool dude said:
Darwin right there.
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You have to wonder if anyone died because people were stood around blocking people trying to leave, because they would rather film a video.
how many died because people filmed instead of helping evacuate people? and made sure everyone would get out?
and how many people died because they wanted to be the last person in there to get the best footage


we need new laws these types of attitudes are a danger to the public

it should be illegal to stand around filming when its obvious everyone should be evacuating to safety not getting in peoples way potentially

the staff who could maybe have been using fire etinguishers to try and buy time or looking to get people out, are instead having to baby sit morons on their phones
 
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Freakbro said:
I think people are over stating how "sensible" the young were in times gone by compared to "the youth of today"....

But that video is hard to defend
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Yes I can remember having a school assembly in primary school so early to mid 90's about the dangers of crossing a road only for a kid to get dragged 50 feet by a lorry tagging his jacket whilst crossing the road after school on that very same day.

I do believe this filming culture is getting really stupid. Especially during accidents when the hands could be used way more productively. This was something we didn't need to deal with in our childhood however.
 
Most people, myself included, are not experts in fire. However, having looked into this a bit, it appears the fire went from that small section of ceiling ablaze, to a massive flashover fire, within a matter of seconds, possibly as low as 10s. Most people, on seeing that tiny section ablaze, would probably not be aware of the massive danger they were in, and might think that it could have been extinguished by staff. Temperatures would have reached very high levels within seconds (hundreds of degrees+), causing burning to the lungs and quick incapacitation and death. This is definitely a lesson to leave a building immediately as soon as you see fire. The Clive Thompson YouTube channel has done a detailed report on the tragedy, as they were in Crans Montana. I warn you though that some of the details are gruesome, so it's quite harrowing viewing. RIP to those killed and thoughts with the injured.
 
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The questions I have are

1 - no sprinkler system in a basement.
2 - No smoke or fire alarm pulled
3 - The staff didn't see and didn't do anything?
4 - Not a single person was concerned.

I guess they think it would just burn itself out.
 
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radderfire said:
Most people, myself included, are not experts in fire. However, having looked into this a bit, it appears the fire went from that small section of ceiling ablaze, to a massive flashover fire, within a matter of seconds, possibly as low as 10s. Most people, on seeing that tiny section ablaze, would probably not be aware of the massive danger they were in, and might think that it could have been extinguished by staff. Temperatures would have reached very high levels within seconds (hundreds of degrees+), causing burning to the lungs and quick incapacitation and death. This is definitely a lesson to leave a building immediately as soon as you see fire. The Clive Thompson YouTube channel has done a detailed report on the tragedy, as they were in Crans Montana. I warn you though that some of the details are gruesome, so it's quite harrowing viewing. RIP to those killed and thoughts with the injured.
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Factor in drink and/or drugs. They'd probably been seeing those sparkler things all night and didnt realise until it was too late. Given the speed at which it goes from a tiny fire to a huge conflagration its likely they were already using their phones as well. Once again I think people are judging way too fast.
 
Raymond Lin said:
The questions I have are

1 - no sprinkler system in a basement.
2 - No smoke or fire alarm pulled
3 - The staff didn't see and didn't do anything?
4 - Not a single person was concerned.

I guess they think it would just burn itself out.
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There were some people attempting to put the fire out by fanning it, although this probably didn't help and may have made it worse. At least they were trying though. They would have no idea of what was coming next.

The owners are under criminal investigation as it looks as though a number of regulations were flaunted, including having a back door locked, and too few fire exits for the number of people. The sound insulation should have been the fireproof variety, it doesn't look like it was. It's possible they weren't allowed to use indoor fireworks either. One of the owners was there on the night and got burned on the arm.

Some clientele left quickly when they saw the fire and survived. As above, from fire starting it could have been as little as 30s to severe life-threatening fire, and this is not a lot of time to react.

What is unbelievable is that people are filming the venue from outside rather than helping, whilst people are inside struggling to get out with an inferno behind them. Fortunately there were also some people that did help and saved lives.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Drugs, alcohol, teenage feeling of invincibility. Even at that age and intoxicated, not a chance I’d be sticking around and certainly not cheering the fire on.
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I've been a Fire Officer at a Hospital Trust for around 12 years.
Me and other Officers are told when there's a fire drill but nobody else knows.
My building is full of very clever people, Professors, Surgeons, Clinicians, people with Masters in certain disciplines but as soon as that fire alarm goes off at least 10% are being forced out by people like me.
I can't count how many arguments I've got in to get people out.
In that time we've had around 3 proper fires where the Fire Service have turned up but still people remain.
None of these are teenagers and hopefully not drunk.
 
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