POWER skipper Travis Boak only realised the true extent of recent hills bushfires when he drove into the worst hit area on Tuesday.
Port Adelaide hosted a football clinic and met with around 200 locals in the small town of Kersbrook, where 12 houses were lost in the 240km perimetre blaze that ripped through the hills earlier this month.
As the leader of a professional sporting club that owed so much to its local communities, Boak said he felt a responsibility to help those affected by the disaster in whichever way he could.
"You're not really sure of what's actually happened until you drive through and see how many people have been affected and how much damage it's actually caused," Boak said.
"As soon as you come up past Tea Tree Gully you start seeing black trees everywhere … everything's just really dead.
"It's actually really devastating just driving past.
"We're in a pretty fortunate position to help out as much as we can.
"We've got a fantastic supporter base and we want to raise as much money and support for this community as we can."
Power 2004 premiership player Roger James and his brother Brett – who played 118 AFL games for Collingwood and then Adelaide – helped save their family's apple and pear orchard on the outskirts of Kersbrook when the fire tore through.
The town's residents took refuge at the football club during the worst of the fire, an act that Power CEO Keith Thomas said symbolized the importance of such clubs amongst the community.
"Once the profile and media attention goes, these guys have to rebuild and hopefully what we're doing today and what we intend to do at the family day later in February will help them do that," Thomas said.
"Footy clubs are all part of one community, that's how we see it.
"In our (Port) family we've got Roger James who's out here and the Crows have got Brett James who's the coach of the Kersbrook footy club, so we all feel connected.
"When the fires were at their most fierce the town retreated into this footy club and I think that really gives you an insight into the role that sporting clubs can play.
"We'd like to think that Port Adelaide is that sort of a club... and we'd just like to pitch in when we can."
