Three firefighters were killed and 10 others injured when a blazing house collapsed on them early Monday in Kobe's Nishi Ward.
A body believed to be that of the sole resident of the house, Koshi Joren, a 51-year-old employee of a local junior high school, was later found in the rubble.
The second floor of Joren's two-story wooden house gave way and fell on the 13 firefighters who had entered the first floor in a rescue attempt, police and fire officials said.