Valais State Councillor Reynard on Crans-Montana "It's difficult to ever get these images out of your head"

One month after the fire in Crans-Montana, the President of the Cantonal Government of Valais, Mathias Reynard, describes in an interview how he experienced the night of January 1st - and why the encounters with families and rescue workers still haunt him to this day.

Mathias Reynard, President of the Cantonal Government of Valais, describes the hours following the fire in Crans-Montana as a turning point that will remain. In an interview with the French-language edition of "Blick", Reynard says that he "didn't sleep" on New Year's night. He spent the whole night on the phone, coordinating and liaising with the hospital, emergency services and security director Stéphane Ganzer before deciding "very quickly" to travel to Crans-Montana.

Reynard emphasizes that the full extent only gradually became apparent as teams on site assessed the situation. "You struggle to realize it without having seen it - and it's difficult to get it out of your head," he tells Blick. At the same time, he admits that although he had to function as President of the Government, he was also afraid as a private person: "At a moment like this, you also ask yourself whether your own relatives are affected."

The encounter with the families who were looking for their children - and waiting for answers that did not yet exist at the time - was particularly hard. "We had no answer to the only question that mattered to them," says Reynard. He is still in contact with many relatives today.

Politics should not interfere in the investigation

In the interview, the SP politician also speaks openly about psychological help. He has sought support himself - "it's not taboo", he says. His reasoning: "You have to look after yourself to a minimum in order to be there for others." And he makes it clear that time does not heal the rupture: "We will never simply move on - we remain scarred for life."

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Reynard is cautious about the criminal justice process and refers to the separation of powers. He warns against politics interfering in the investigation: "If the government were to start interfering in the investigation, that would be a serious mistake," he says. However, he expects "the full truth" - and that responsibility is clarified, "even if public bodies are involved".

For the time afterwards, Reynard announces that the canton wants to initiate a permanent memorial. He has instructed his teams to work on a memorial - with the involvement of the families. "We will not forget," he says, because: "We will never be able to pretend that nothing happened. Normality will never simply return."