Arson Suspected In Restaurant Fire

Giovanni’s, an Italian restaurant in the Spokane Valley, was destroyed by a possible arson fire early Sunday.

The fire still is under investigation, but officials consider it suspicious because it started on the outside of the building sometime before firefighters were called to the scene about 5:45 a.m.

Flames were spotted at the rear of the building when fire crews arrived, said Wayne Cumpton, incident commander for Valley Fire.

“It was just rolling inside the attic, the entire attic was involved,” Cumpton said.

Giovanni’s is owned by John Guarisco, who purchased it from his former partners Marty Hogberg and Matt Pettit last year.

Hogberg and Pettit are owners of Luigi’s, a downtown Italian restaurant destroyed by a grease fire in May.