GoFundMe – Mike Penhall / Kangaroo Island

We have all seen the complete devastation that these bushfires have destroyed of our beautiful country.

With over 300 fires raging, 12 million hectares destroyed, lives lost and up to 1/1 a billion animals, we haven’t seen such tragedy strike our shores for a long time. Considering the size of the impact, its no surprise that someone close to us could be affected.

Mike Penhall, aka @ThatKIGuy, is one of those – a TooSerious stalwart for years that has entertained us
with his posts & wit - managing numerous SuperCoach Keeper teams right here on TS has just this week lost everything he & his family have………

Mike is one of the Park Ranger’s on Kangaroo Island. Just last month he was off in NSW helping the local RFS fight fires to the north & returned last week to SA to go on a small vacay. A few days later he was called back to Kangaroo Island…..it was ablaze & all hands were needed. He has been there for 15 years – only 12 years ago they were under serious threat, but managed to repel the fires. This time they weren’t so lucky.

As the Section Commander, he was in charge of a crew assigned to protect the buildings in & around the Visitor’s Center – an area of numerous buildings, livelihoods – not to mention his home as well.

As much as they tried to defend, they were over-run by the intensity of the fires – every building within this Flinders Chase National park were destroyed – including Mike’s house where he, his wife Wendy and kids Matthew & Emily have resided in for years. His friends and fellow Rangers wiped out as well. Two friends burnt to death.

I reached out to Mike who is of course devastated – he noted that he felt guilty having his crew there under such conditions, but all were just following orders. He noted that they will rebuild the park, that he will be front & center for that and that it’s just been devastating for the community of Kangaroo Island – the homes, the livelihoods all lost. Hardly a mention of what he has lost – that being nearly everything this family of four own. His wife Wendy notes that the kids have nothing left. They have a few suitcases…….nothing more. His daughter, visually & intellectually impaired, has lost everything she grew up with…….

Wendy notes……” We didn’t have pets, but all of the animals on KI were our pets. Kangaroo’s would graze out back, Koala’s were in the trees outside their bedroom and cockatoos would wake them every morning. They literally have nothing left. “ Even their places of employment no longer stand.

At last count on Kangaroo Island, 2 lives have been lost, 170,000 hectares destroyed, 1/3 of the Island completely wiped out. The CFS remain there still fighting the fires and that at its peak, when Mike’s KI burnt to the ground, it was 39c with winds of 80 kmh.

The link below is a GoFundMe that we have set up for Mike & his family. Whilst I’m sure others have given to various resources already – please find it in your heart to help one of our TS mates.

Smash the link and share the arse out of it:

gf.me/u/xap7j5