Wichita woman recalls finding out her father was missing in Reno County wildfire
The Reno County Sheriff’s Office has identified the person who died in the Cottonwood Complex fire as 45-year-old Chadrick Penner of Hutchinson.
Penner’s daughter, Kaydence Penner, says she had talked to her dad Saturday morning before the fire started.
Penner, who lives in Wichita with her grandmother, says she was in Oklahoma with her mother on Saturday.
Penner said she later got a call from a friend and another person who lived with Penner’s father saying that his house was gone, and that he was missing, Penner said.
Amber Rimbey, who was living with Penner’s dad at the time, called Penner on Saturday and said that her dad was OK and that she was helping people evacuate. About 30 minutes later, she called back and said she couldn’t find him.
“She goes, Kaydence, you need to get here now. It’s bad. We don’t know where he is and no one can get a hold of him,” Penner told The Eagle.
Penner says she and her mom drove back from Oklahoma after receiving the call and was told that the Sheriff’s Office considered her father a missing person.
Penner said her dad had just recently bought the now-destroyed home and “he was really proud of it.”
“I started to really worry because he had just bought that house in January. I was in Oklahoma with my mom at the time. I kept calling and messaging his phone and he wouldn’t answer,” Penner says.
Penner says she spent part of Sunday looking for her dad and his truck with no success, and then detectives called her.
“They told us they had found a truck that was badly burnt, so they weren’t really sure if it was his truck,” Penner says.
The Reno County Sheriff’s Office called Penner shortly before 2 p.m. on Tuesday confirming that the fire victim was her father, Penner said.
Penner said she last saw her dad two weeks ago and talked to him over the phone the morning of the fire.
“I’m just you know, just grateful that I called him and talked to him. He told me that he loved me and missed me,” Penner said.
“He really loved the square body trucks, ‘70s, ‘80s models,” Penner said about her father, who was a self-employed trim carpenter.
“He was a funny person and had the best laugh. He could always cheer up anybody no matter the circumstances,” Penner says.
A GoFundMe has been set up to cover the cost of Chadrick Penner’s funeral costs and the loss of his home.
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 2:11 PM.
CORRECTION: Chadrick Penner’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.