The New Year's Eve fire at a bar in Crans-Montana killed 40 people and injured 116.
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Switzerland, often praised for its efficiency, has a very devolved system of government, in which villages and towns are run by local officials elected from and by the community.
It is a system the Swiss cherish, because they believe it ensures accountability.
But there are inherent weaknesses: hypothetically, the official approving a bar license or passing a fire-safety check is the friend, neighbour, or maybe even cousin of the bar owner.
Watch: Ski bar not checked for five years and sparklers now banned, mayor saysWhen the news of the fire emerged on New Year's Eve, first there was shock. Such devastating fires are not, people thought, supposed to happen in Switzerland.
Then there was grief - 40 young people lost their lives, 116 were injured, many of them very seriously. Questions followed - what caused such a catastrophe?
And finally, this week - fury when Crans-Montana's Mayor, Nicolas Feraud, revealed that Le Constellation bar had not been inspected since 2019.
Crans-Montana is in the Swiss canton of Valais, where fire-safety inspections are the responsibility of Mayor Feraud and his colleagues, and they are supposed to happen every 12 months.
Not only had the checks not taken place, the mayor said, he had only become aware of this after the fire. And, he revealed, of 128 bars and restaurants in Crans-Montana, only 40 had been inspected in 2025.
Asked why, Feraud had no answer, though he did suggest Crans-Montana had too few inspectors for the number of properties that needed checking.
This was echoed by Romy Biner, the mayor of neighbouring upmarket resort Zermatt, who told local media that many communities in the canton of Valais did not have the required resources to inspect so many premises. This is not a line that plays well with many Swiss, who know that Crans-Montana and Zermatt are two of the richest winter resorts