KENOVA, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The owner of Gino’s in Kenova is sharing more information about a fire that damaged the building and led to multiple Spring Valley baseball players being injured Sunday morning.
Multiple injuries reported after fire at Gino’s location in Kenova
David Hutchinson co-owns the restaurant with his wife.
The couple lives in the home next to the restaurant. He said the second story of the restaurant consists of vacant apartments and a game room that includes a ping pong table.
He said his 15-year-old son had three friends over to spend the night above the restaurant Saturday. The son and his friends are all members of the Spring Valley baseball team.
Hutchinson said an alarm went off in the restaurant building at 6:19 a.m., and a fire had broken out in the back part of the second story.
Hutchinson said he and his wife left their home next door and went into the building to try to help the kids get out. He said the smoke was so thick, they had to crawl on the floor.
He said he and his wife and the four teens all went to the hospital, and two of his son’s friends remained in the hospital as of Monday evening.
Hutchinson said he and his wife are praying for their full recovery.
There’s no official word on the extent of the teens’ injuries who remain in the hospital.
The owner said there’s no word yet on how the fire started.
He said the restaurant sustained extensive water damage, but they are hoping to be able to re-open by the end of the week.
Spring Valley baseball head Coach Austin Pratt said he’s received calls and messages of support from coaches and players from all over the state.
“We appreciate everybody reaching out and keeping them in their thoughts and prayers,” Pratt said. “Hopefully they get back to full strength and possibly playing at some point this season.”
Spring Valley Principal John Hayes said they’ve reached out to the families of the injured students to see if there’s any way they can help.
“We miss them, we love them,” Hayes said. “They should be here at school with their teammates and classmates, they should be at practice and at games. We want to get everybody back. We want to get everybody healthy.”
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