Ms Maxwell, who represents Derryn Hinch's Justice Party, was disappointed to hear that vital life-saving firefighting equipment was stolen and left the brigade vulnerable and scrambling for replacement equipment.
“Regional brigades provide an invaluable service to Victoria, and during such an intense fire season it is devastating that heartless thieves would take advantage of a volunteer-run brigade,” she said.
Ms Maxwell said given the severity of the current fire season, this burglary was particularly gut-wrenching for the local community and CFA volunteers, and was a blatant case of criminal opportunism.
Katamatite CFA captain John Parnell said the donation would go towards replacing the equipment and increasing the station's security.
As captain, Mr Parnell said he felt he had to take responsibility for the burglary.
“It's very gut-wrenching, very disappointing that you get targeted, especially currently with what's going on around the state and the country,” he said.
“As a captain, you take a lot of the responsibility of what's happened.
“Trying to explain to the community that this is what's happened, that we're still here to protect the community and support the community.
“But when you're offline for seven hours because of lowlifes who targeted the station it just leaves the community very vulnerable.”
Ms Maxwell has called on the Victorian Government to provide more resources for CFA stations across the state.
“I think that the government should ultimately be supporting the funding to purchase, I think they need to be supporting replacement of older vehicles.
“Police don't pay for their own tasers or divvy vans, paramedics don't pay for their own ambulances; I see the CFA's role as just as important . . . why should they have to fund-raise so hard?”
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