By Glazyl Masculino BACOLOD CITY - The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has confirmed the death of a family of three, a nanny, a guest, and an employee in a fire that razed Java Pension House on Gonzaga Street here Tuesday morning. Rescuers retrieve a body of one of the six casualties in the fire that razed Java pension house in Bacolod City Tuesday. (Glazyl Masculino / MANILA BULLETIN) Chief Inspector Publio Ploteña, city fire marshal, identified the five casualties as pension house owner Christopher Java, 33; his mother Magdalena, 73; Christopher’s son Christian, 12; Ronalyn Dacalio, 43, Christian’s nanny; and Arnold Felomino, 58, an employee assigned to the front desk. Ploteña said that the charred body of a man believed to be in his 50s is still unidentified. He said the Java family and the nanny, who lived at the pension house, were found inside a room at the second floor, where they were trapped by thick smoke. Felomino was found at the hallway of the second floor while the unidentified victim was found at the rooftop. Ploteña said earlier they are searching for the staffer assigned to the front desk to check the list of guests and tenants inside the pension house when the incident happened. However, after several hours they found out that the staffer was among the casualties of the fire. Meanwhile, four people were injured in the fire, identified by police as Rey Bayona, Janine Pepito, Romeo Omnus, and Australian national Paul Codognato. Ploteña said the fire initially broke out at the ground floor area past 4:30 a.m. They have yet to determine the cause of fire, though there were reports that an ignition from a motorcycle parked in the area caused the blaze, which spread to the adjacent upholstery shop and eatery. “We are looking at different angles. We’re trying to look for a copy of closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera near the area to help us in the investigation,” he added. The fire chief added that while only a portion of the pension house was damaged in the fire, six adjacent small business establishments were also damaged. The five-storey building was formerly known as The Bascon Hotel, according to Oscar Bascon, whose family owns the building which was built in 1965. The BFP has initially declared at least P8 million worth of damage to properties. They are also investigating the pension house management’s compliance with fire safety protocols to determine if there were violations committed. "We will check the business permits, fire safety certificates, and other documents to check if they have complied with the safety protocols," Ploteña said. Another guest of the pension house, Katsumi Suzuki, 67, a tourist from Japan, said he crawled through the window to get out of his room when thick smoke filled the place. “I was sleeping when it happened. I crawled like a spiderman just to get out of my room,” he told the media as he narrated how he survived the fire incident. He said he had been staying at the pension house for a month and he left about P200,000 cash inside his room’s safety vault. He has no relatives here and all his personal belongings were inside the building. The Bacolod Traffic Authority Office implemented a temporary road closure in the area for almost 10 hours due to the incident. Meanwhile, city officials led by Mayor Evelio Leonardia visited the area and assisted the affected fire victims. Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran expressed his condolences to the families of the six casualties. He said the incident should serve as moral lesson especially to the BFP and the Office of Building Official to conduct strict inspections of all buildings here as to their compliance to the building code.