Northern Victorian MP Tania Maxwell has marked day one of the new Fire Rescue Victoria by visiting South Wangaratta station in her CFA uniform with a black armband.
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She said volunteers still did not know how the new arrangement would affect their ability to have ageing trucks and other equipment upgraded, in competition with paid firefighters.
"At a grassroots level, the most disappointing factor is the lack of consultation. What happens now? There's been no practical discussions," she said.
"There are so many concerns and issues that the CFA have raised and have had no answers."
Ms Maxwell said FRV had requested another 600 paid firefighters and questioned if the cost of that would be taken out of the budget for much-needed CFA truck upgrades.
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The Victorian government has announced a $126 million funding package for the CFA to go towards critical training and equipment.
"There's no decisiveness of who's getting what and when," Ms Maxwell said.
"That's where the frustration is coming from - there is no directive, there is no transparency.
"They have the fear of what is under this agreement."
But despite the frustration she does not believe volunteers will leave the organisation, they will find a way to live with the changes.
"Anyone who's at CFA does it out of the goodness of their heart and when the community need them, they'll turn up," she said.
"I think it will actually make volunteers more determined to say 'we'll show you, we're still needed by out community'."
Former CFA volunteer and District 23 officer Garry Cook has been appointed as the acting chief officer following the resignation of Steve Warrington.
"It has been a long and sometimes difficult journey to reach today's implementation of fire services reform," he said.
"But we are looking to the future of our organisation - we are now a proudly volunteer-based, community-focused fire service."
