Overview
- Newly reviewed surveillance images show a man entering a ground-floor service door at 1:26 a.m. and raising his arm toward the upper frame where a bolt sits.
- One minute later, pyrotechnics on a champagne bottle reportedly ignited ceiling foam in the basement, setting off the New Year’s Eve fire that killed 41 people and injured more than 80.
- Reports say rescuers later found the door’s bolt at 2.02 meters in the locked position, the man on the video says he cannot recall setting it, and the operators maintain the door was not locked.
- The status of that door is in dispute, as the owners call it a service door while a 2015 cantonal fire form cited by 24heures indicates it qualified as an emergency exit.
- The public prosecutor’s criminal probe now includes Mayor Nicolas Féraud for alleged oversight failures after he admitted the town skipped required annual fire-safety inspections at the bar since 2019.