In Vaud this year, fireworks could not be set off on land. The persistent drought and the risk of fire had led the canton to ban them across the entire land area. The only exception allowed was fireworks set off from the water, as the lake was there to mitigate any problems.
The municipality of St-Prex, on the shores of Lake Geneva, organised its 1 August celebrations on a barge on the lake. It was a perfectly legal, perfectly planned solution. Until the barge caught fire.
In the middle of the show, the launch pad caught fire. The show was interrupted. But the fireworks still on board the burning barge continued to go off spontaneously, chaotically and uncontrollably for quite some time over Lake Geneva, to the amazement of the spectators who were still watching from the shore. No one was injured.
Everyone in Vaud had spent weeks trying to work out how to celebrate 1 August without setting the country alight. The official solution turned out to be the only thing that actually went up in flames that night. And in the end, there was a grand finale after all. It wasn’t the one that had been planned, but there was one nonetheless.