Kangaroo Island has gone round three in its bushfire battle, sustaining more damage and trauma.
We may be down, but our farmers, wildlife and tourism operators are definitely not out.
We lost more farms, stock, wildlife and habitat, as well as tourism infrastructure. The tally is still being counted.
After three weeks of constant battle, this latest fire challenge was the fire that almost came to town.
The townsfolk of Kingscote, including the displaced from the fireground, were traumatised when fine ash began falling shortly before midnight on Thursday, followed by an ominous glow to the west.
People were advised to stay calm and remain in the Bushfire Safer Place that was the town centre. Hundreds chose to wait it out down at the town jetty, while others sheltered at the football oval.
Yet others earlier in the day fell back to Penneshaw on the eastern end of the Island.
Kangaroo Island has escaped the bushfire aftermath mayhem being experienced by my family and friends on the South Coast of NSW, with their battle continuing even now.
Thursday's bushfire trauma on KI was only the latest in an epic three-week fire battle.
The Duncan fire started on December 20 seems like a distant memory, despite the fact it claimed at least four homes and its victims are still dealing with their loss.
Some of the people in that blaze, including at Stokes Bay and Snug Cove, continued to battle the blaze even yesterday as the Duncan and Ravine fires merged.
I was struck by the fact that incident controller Ian Tanner spoke about the weariness among all the troops.
This includes paid, volunteer firefighters and the legendary farm fire fighting units, armed with nothing more than a water tank and pump on the back of utility vehicles.
Ian Tanner was the same incident controller who stood before the community meeting at Parndana on January 2, warning of the worst which sadly came to eventuate.
He was also on KI during the last major bushfire in 2007 that claimed one life and burned much of the south coast.
The latest lightning-sparked blaze this week was less ferocious than the epic firestorm that burned out much of the western end on Friday, January 3.
The fire at that stage claimed two lives, 56 homes, potentially 100,000 stock, an estimated 25,000 koalas and countless other wildlife.
This was because the weather was less extreme but also because it did not have the fuel loads, including the timber plantations now destroyed.
After rolling across more farmland and bush, now even more precious, this latest fire arrived at the doorstep of the Island's biggest town, Kingscote around midnight, on Thursday January 10.
The fire burned to within kilometres of the Island's airport at Cygnet River before taking off to the northeast through farmland.
Farmers that battled to save their property, such as Alicia and Matt Cooper at Parndana, faced down the fire beast.
While they feared the worst, excellent preparation and determination saved most of their stock and houses.
"In what can only be described as a completely inhuman effort, Alicia has saved 3500 animals on the quad bike, so we may have some drafting to do over the weekend, but all the ewes and lambs are accounted for," Matt posted.
Others were not as lucky and farmers on Friday were asking for help to euthanase and bury stock.
As far we can tell from reports filtering in, we lost SeaLink's Vivonne Bay Lodge last night but the Raptor Domain wildlife park remains standing, despite being encircled by flame at times.
The township and and it general store, home of the legendary whiting burger, also remain standing.
The world has been holding it breath about the survival of the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, now the animal hospital for the Island's injured wildlife.
Park keeper Billy Dunlop was at the Kingscote oval on Friday morning and he told another remarkable tale of survival from KI's fire.
Park owner Sam Mitchell, ably assisted by a team of four others including Billy, battled the initial fire front that came in from the west in the afternoon.
And then when the southerly hit in the night, they were fortunate that the fire skirted the park, leaving it untouched.
Kangaroo Island like the rest the Australia remains tinder dry and when hot conditions return, more fires are likely.
Indeed as we write this Kingscote has received 4mm of rain, enough to quell fears but not enough to put out the fire that continues to smoulder.
Checking in at a few spots around town today, I realised we are all going to need be counsellors for each for a little while.
Have the patience to listen to your fellow Islander's conversation, as taking heals.
I myself had discussions with people about mental health, our young people, fire ecology, climate and plantation timber.
The topics are endless as the fire's impact is total.
Thanks Yen and crew at the Cactus Cafe for sporting me my big breakfast this morning and I have been humbled by everyone's praise for my coverage during the fire.
But like everyone else on KI, I was just doing my little bit.
This was written on about two hours sleep before I go and live stream today's community meeting at the Kingscote Town Hall.
We all have a lot of work to do to rebuild this Island. But our farms will be re-fenced, houses rebuilt, tourism attractions resurrected.
Restocking will happen, the wildlife and bush will recover in some form and the tourists will return.
We've focussed on words for this update report, and I'm just glad not be posting fire maps and warnings for once.
But we will have ongoing coverage of this bushfire crises and the recovery process that has already begun.
If you want to help, then please donate to one of the relief funds, two are listed below. We also included links to some of our previous coverage.
Thanks for your support with millions raised already from small individual donations around the world.
How to donate on GoFundMe:
Stan Gorton
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
