Fire above Kenova Gino’s believed to be an accident, says fire chief

KENOVA, W.Va. (WOWK) -- A fire in an apartment above of a Gino's Pizza restaurant that left four teens and two adults injured is believed to not be suspicious, according to Kenova Fire Chief Jamie Stoner. The fire broke out early Sunday morning while four teens were staying in the apartment. Stoner says the owners of the Gino's pizza and also the apartment went into the structure and were able to get the teens, including their son, out. "There's no life-threatening injuries. The last check I got, four had been released, two of the teenage boys were still in the hospital with injuries, but nothing life-threatening," Stoner says. Officials say the fire was contained to one room upstairs with some smoke damage to other rooms and some minor water damage to the restaurant below. The fire is still under investigation by the West Virginia Fire Marshal's Office but Chief Stoner says they don't believe this was intentional. "We don't believe there's any arson involved. It's under investigation, just because it's a commercial structure, and the fire marshal was contacted to look at it, but, no, we don't believe there to be any reason to think there's arson involved," Stoner says. The owners of the Gino's posted a statement saying they have received quite a bit of support from the community after this happened. "What a tremendous outpouring of love, support and prayers we have received since the fire. I can not thank everyone enough… (we) also will update everyone here on our business page about reopening time frames once the boys are all ok. I don't want anything to be a concern other than them at this time," the statement reads. The cause of the fire has not been determined as of Monday evening.