The mayor of Crans-Montana (an upscale Swiss ski resort in the canton of Valais) has told prosecutors he did not know that annual fire safety inspections had gone unperformed for six years at a bar where a New Year's Eve fire killed 41 people and injured 115 others. Nicolas Feraud was questioned for the first time by investigators probing the January 1 blaze at Le Constellation bar, where prosecutors believe celebratory champagne sparklers ignited sound-insulation foam in the basement. The mayor is one of nine people under criminal investigation, alongside the bar's French owners, as victims' families and their lawyers express frustration that no one has yet explained why inspections were suspended for so long.