Volunteer firefighter Owen O'Keefe fears there could be less volunteers stepping up as a result of fire services reforms that passed state parliament late Thursday night.
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It brought to an end a long, bitter dispute that saw volunteers march down Warrnambool's main street in 2016 chanting "hands off our CFA".
Dozens of south-west volunteers also joined 1200 volunteers and a motorcade of 400 trucks in a mass rally at state parliament.
Pressure from vocal volunteers and Liberal Party politicians and former independent MP James Purcell stalled the changes until Thursday where a shift in the numbers in the Upper House allowed it to finally pass.
The Andrews' government needed the support of three of the 11 crossbenchers in the upper house but had four, enabling the passage of legislation to overhaul the state's fire services.
Former Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria district five councillor Owen O'Keefe said he was "really upset" by the lack of consultation with the volunteers.
Mr O'Keefe said there was virtually no difference at all to the last time the reforms were brought before parliament.
"All the marching up and down the street at the time, it worked but we didn't have the numbers in the upper house this time," he said.
"It's a democracy and you just have to suck it up, but it's terribly disappointing."
Mr O'Keefe said while there were some benefits for volunteers, there were some "huge negatives".
"It's terribly unclear. We were never consulted and we don't really know."
Mr O'Keefe said he feared the new organisation would try to wind back the number of fire volunteers.
"There'll be very little volunteer empathy," he said.
Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell, who was a vocal supporter of volunteer firefighters, took aim at Animal Justice Party member for Western Victoria Andy Meddick who voted in favour of "Labor's plan to destroy the CFA".
Ms Britnell questioned if Mr Meddick had bothered to listen to the concerns of volunteers at the Warrnambool and Portland fire brigades or the more than 50 volunteer brigades across the south-west region.
She said Mr Meddick's deal with the Labor Government had sold out his constituents, and she accused him of representing a minority of western Victorians.
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