09/21/2022
God Is Good…All The Time🙏
We are doing as well as can be expected at this time. It is a lot to process, but we are thankful to have not been harmed by this devastating incidence. I appreciate all your calls and text wanting us to reopen. I can’t imagine “NOT” having this little pizzeria here. We had so many plans for expansion in progress taking place in the future. We are working on a few ideas to reopen but for now I am just taking a break trying to get a handle on the direction my company is going to take. This has been a huge setback thinking of all the work and money that had already been spent to set in motion our plans we had payed out, especially knowing over half of what we had will not be recoverable. It will be starting over. I appreciate your prayers, hopes & dreams for us. It means so much to all of us at West Virginia Pizza Co. ❤️
I can’t express to all of you, my customers, co-workers, friends and family, how thankful and truly humbled I am for all the prayers, text, emails and calls I have received.
It has been a couple days now and honestly the first few I turned my phone off, not to ignore anyone, I was just still trying to come to terms in mind what had taken place for me to stand helplessly and watch 10 years of my family’s heart and soul that was poured into a little pizza place that was now burning to the ground.
My heart was broken, I was emotionally a wreck and avoided all media on FB and TV until I could get it together. Today for the first time I looked at all the pictures and videos that you sent. It was heart wrenching to say the least. It is a awful feeling to stand helpless knowing there is nothing you can do.
Your questions answered…
1) “what started the fire?”
Me…”I have no clue.”
2) “what happened exactly?”
Me…Sundays I usually have Pump Up The Fun deliveries for birthdays, paper work, weekly cleaning, and getting supplies orders ready such as making dough for the coming week, we had prepared over 80 dough balls, and 4gal. Of sweet sauce just before the fire started.
in between our normal Sunday duties we continue taking orders for wings, pizzas, subs, and spaghetti. We had more orders than normal to be closed, most customers will text or call my cell to see if I’m open. That’s the kind of business we had, it was very flexible, if I was there we were open, my customers knew that.
My last customer had went through the drive through at 7:30, the spaghetti order we were working on was when the fire had started. The 2 burner hot plate was also located beside the oven.
I went to sit on the porch to get some fresh air and take a quick break before cleaning up. We had been working since 9:30am. It was a long day. My co-worker went to get supplies from the building when she saw the black smoke coming out of the main vent on the roof, I went to grab my phone to call 911 and realized it was inside, she called my phone as I went inside to find it, she called 911. I stepped Into the kitchen was filled with smoke and flames were going up the wall over top of the gas hookup located behind the pizza oven. I was unable to see where the fire was coming from exactly but I knew the gas hook up was located in that area. I was tempted to grab by personal belongings from my office but feared the gas would be a issue. I just quickly ran back out of the building and told my co-worker just to go away from here. There were a few men who had saw the smoke and stopped to help telling me to move my car…I jumped in my car to move it, I always park up against the porch due to the number of deliveries we have. My key was left inside, I had carried some supplies in earlier and dropped my key. luckily sitting on one of the tables close to the door I grabbed my key as the smoke was now black and filled the kitchen completely spilling into the dining room. At this time I could not breath, not from smoke from the vision of the flames destroying all we had built. I stood still in the doorway and looked once more around the room at everything that we all put into this shop, I thought of things I should have grabbed like personal family items that can not be replaced, my quilt I had just brought down or the many tools and pictures on the wall. I stood in the doorway and just walked away. There wasn’t any ONE thing I could have grabbed I thought, this was home to All of us for so long, we were all here, everyone of us that took time to create what we thought was a representation of all the best West Virginia had to offer. It’s history. This was 10 years in the making, this little hometown Pizzeria called ‘West Virginia Pizza Co’ or as my regular customers like to describe us as…”The best Kept Secret in town!”
That’s what I loved about it…The people…wild and wonderful West Virginia people! I will miss you guys, it had become a gathering place for friends and family. ❤️ the inside welcomed you with the WV history we all share and love, it was important to Tylor to keep it all in the state. He had salvaged wood from a torn down post office located at shoals on rt. 75, the walls were lined with tin that had aged as well as the hand painted logo on the wall center of all the pictures and recognize able items used to bring our states history alive. It was my favorite part to tell the story I had been told from the old star made from to***co sticks. the metal hand forged axes, a quilt my grandmother made from feed sacks was a favorite of mine as well as the pictures of locals you shared. the coal miners pictures along with items they used was a favorite. We have a wonderful history in WV and I love sharing it with young people. I’m thankful to sTill have The recipes passed down from my family and friends, they were undeniable the best. Everyone has given so much time and energy to make this the success it had become. We all just can’t thank you enough for love, prayers, and supporting us through the years.
I’m not sure what the future holds for “WV Pizza Co.” it was my business but the building was leased. No word yet about the rebuilding, or whether the owners are planning to put a restraunt back in that space. Know as We get straightened out and any new information I will share with you. Thanks again!
❤️Love & 🍕pizza
God bless you my friends
❤️ 🙏 Tami Wheeler Kilgore
