FIRE officials recovered Tuesday another charred body bringing to 17 the total number of persons killed in an early morning fire that hit Barangay 19 in Bacolod City.

Bureau of Fire (BFP) personnel recovered Monday 16 charred bodies, including an 11-month-old baby after the fire swept through squatter colonies at 1:19 a.m.

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Fire Chief Pamela Rojane Candido said the blaze started from the first floor of the boarding house owned by Margie Depakakibo. Witnesses told investigators that the fire may have been sparked by candles lit by a tenant who failed to pay her electric bill.

Authorities pegged the damage to properties at P4 million as the fire razed to the ground 59 houses and damaged three others.

Barangay 19 was placed under a state of calamity Tuesday.

Undersecretary Anthony Golez said the city and barangay disaster coordinating council convened a task force so that their efforts will be coordinated and to fast-track the system that will handle the management of the relief goods and the dead, noting that there is a need for technical expertise to identify the dead.

He said city officials requested the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to help in identifying those who perish in the fire.

Golez said he met with Mayor Evelio Leonardia Monday evening, just to make sure everything would be fine and all the affected residents of Barangay 19 were provided with their basic needs.

The City Disaster Coordinating Council action officer Josemari Vargas said they had sent a water filtration system donated by the National Disaster Coordinating Council to Bacolod City which can purify even water coming from the canal.

Barangay 19 barangay captain Jocelyn Uychiat said she requested for a portable tent to be installed beside the barangay gym where the caskets of the victims will be laid, since there are residents occupying the gym.

Uychiat added: “We will use all our calamity funds and distribute it in cash so the affected residents will have something to use for their needs.”

She said they would go back to their normal situation, noting that she will be more particular this time with regard to operation of boarding houses. She said she could not give the owners of these boarding houses clearance but she can only issue certification where the name of the landlord is stated.

Uychiat lauded those who gave donations to fire victims.

Mayor Leonardia said he would request the members of the City Council to pass a resolution declaring a state of calamity, so the city could extend assistance to the fire victims.

He said all the mayors of the Association of Chief Executives would also extend P200,000 to help the victims.

Leonardia lauded Manapla Mayor Manuel Escalante who was in barangay 19 Tuesday to evaluate the situation in the area.

Escalante promised that the members of the Association of the Chief Executives would extend their help to the city, claiming that if they helped the victims of typhoon Ondoy, how much more in the province of Negros Occidental where the City of Bacolod now needs assistance for the victims of the fire incident.

Golez, for his part, said the Department of Social Welfare and Development would give P10,000 financial assistance to the fire victims.

A holy mass was held Tuesday afternoon at the Barangay 19 gym officiated Fr. Ernesto Majillano.

Mayor Leonardia issued an executive order Tuesday declaring a week of mourning from November 2 to November 8 for the victims of the fire.

Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella said his family shares the grief of the families and individuals whose loved ones were lost in the blaze.

“I believe that our individual and collective presence in their midst at this time of great sorrow and pain, is equally valuable as they try to recover their lives and move on from the ashes of the disaster, I will be weeks, if nor months, before their houses rebuilt and years more before the sad memories of the dawn of the All Souls day incident are numbed by the ravages of the time,” Puentevella said.

Puentevella hopes that the same incident will not happen again in the city.

The solon said barangay roads in the city should be wide enough to accommodate fire trucks in case of fire.

Puentevella said firemen had difficulty penetrating the fire scene due to narrow roads.