![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/g9n8wxuamaq6w-t-blur.JPG\")
<\/p>\n\n Swiss authorities have said that a deadly fire at a ski resort bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, rapidly developed into a \u201cflashover\u201d \u2013 a dangerous phenomenon in which everything in a room ignites almost simultaneously.\n <\/p>\n
\n The blaze quickly grew into a \u201cflashover fire\u201d after likely being caused by sparklers in champagne bottles that came too close to the ceiling, B\u00e9atrice Pilloud, the attorney general for Valais canton, said Friday.\n <\/p>\n
\n A flashover occurs when hot gases rise to the ceiling and spread across the walls, according to the US-based National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The heat then intensifies until all combustible items in the room reach their ignition point and catch fire.\n <\/p>\n
\n Authorities have also discussed \u201cbackdraft\u201d as another potential contributing factor for why the fire spread so fast. A backdraft is an explosion that occurs when oxygen is introduced into a room full of hot gases, according to the NFPA.\n <\/p>\n
\n As temperatures soar to as high as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, even firefighters in full protective gear are unlikely to survive, NFPA said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Independent fire consultant Stephen MacKenzie told CNN Friday a flashover creates ripples of smoke which spread laterally across the ceiling and start to \u201cpreheat\u201d everything in front of it.\n <\/p>\n
\n As the fire spreads, it starts to seek out more oxygen, MacKenzie said.\n <\/p>\n
\n If an opening is made to admit oxygen \u2013 such as a door being opened as people try to escape \u2013 this could have created a \u201cchimney effect,\u201d he said, which accelerated the flow of smoke and combustible gases upward.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got a hot gas layer developing, you\u2019ve got the heat radiating down on you. People start to realize, I need to get out of here,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The fire will also have generated a mix of combustible gasses, MacKenzie said, which will start to ignite. \u201cThe smoke is actually on fire,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Asked how long it takes a flashover to develop, MacKenzie gave a grim forecast. \u201cSeconds,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at seconds to minutes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Medical staff said Friday that some of those in hospital appear to have injuries consistent with a flashover.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n \u201cMost of our patients appear to have been victims of the flashover, with injuries typical of this phenomenon,\u201d a spokesperson at Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) told CNN, adding that a backdraft could also have been possible.\n <\/p>\n
\n Dr. Robert Larribau, the head of the emergency services at the HUG, said those impacted by a flashover typically display severe burns \u201cpredominantly affecting exposed body areas such as the face, neck, and upper limbs.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Meanwhile, backdraft injuries typically include \u201csevere blast trauma, extensive thermal damage, and lethal inhalation of toxic gases,\u201d he said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n
\n CNN\u2019s Martin Goillandeau, Caitlin Danaher, Mitchell McCluskey and Lauren Chadwick contributed reporting.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Swiss authorities have said that a deadly fire at a ski resort bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, rapidly developed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":487632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[171,173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-487631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}