Just the clothes on her back

By Melissa Meehan
ISSUES like the Yarra Glen doctor and the bypass couldn’t be any further from community crusader Dorothy Barber’s mind right now.
Dorothy lost her home in the blaze that tore through the Yarra Valley on Black Saturday, leaving her with only the clothes on her back.
“My daughter called me to say that she was evacuating her family from the area and I should follow,” Dorothy said.
“But by the time I looked around I was surrounded by flames.”
Knowing radiant heat was a major hurdle to overcome, Dorothy grabbed a bucket of water and wrapped a wet towel around her body and headed for the safest area on her property.
“I sat myself between the concrete deck and the concrete water tank and waited for the fire to pass,” Dorothy said.
“Once the house was burnt down I realised that there wouldn’t be much more to burn, but I couldn’t move, I was just in shock.”
Soon adrenaline set in. Dorothy said hearing the footsteps of her son-in-law gave her the energy to stand up.
By the time they walked to the end of the street Dorothy’s legs collapsed underneath her.
“My daughter called an ambulance but they said it was too unsafe to come,” she said.
“Luckily Les King, local SES worker, heard our call and offered to lead the ambulance up the hill to us.”
Dorothy was taken to the Yarra Glen CFA Triage area where she was given oxygen and had her eyes washed out, she was then taken to Maroondah Hospital for further observation.
In the aftermath of the destruction Dorothy is staying with her daughter in Boronia but makes frequent trips back to Yarra Glen.
“The Yarra Glen community and emergency services are just remarkable,” Dorothy said.
“Both my daughter and I lost our homes in the fire, but we will rebuild.”