After a rancorous dispute, Fair Work Commissioner Julius Roe delivered non-binding recommendations on Wednesday night supporting the demands of the United Firefighters Union for greater control of the CFA, infuriating the association and its volunteer base.

Speaking to reporters in New York, where he is on a trade mission, Mr Andrews said the Fair Work Commission had come down with "balanced and fair points" fuelling speculation that he had struck a sweetheart deal.

"We will look for an outcome that fairly rewards our paid firefighters, our career firefighters, and properly respects our volunteers," Mr Andrews said.

It is now up to the government to respond to the Commission's recommendations.

His Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett who has lead the government's fight against the union was in hiding on Thursday.

The Premier had backed Ms Garrett in her stance that the union claims were expensive, unworkable and "outrageous", until he met with union boss Peter Marshall.

The Premier's supporters were scrambling to hose down volunteer and public concerns, insisting that a sensible deal would be struck that did not ruin volunteerism.

And while senior government members are hopeful "common sense will prevail" they concede much of the community and internal angst has festered because of a failure to communicate how it planned to resolve the bitter pay dispute, and why Mr Andrews became involved.

Ms Garrett is the only minister that can compel the CFA board to sign any pay deal.

She now faces a tough choice; either continue to back the CFA and either resign or be sacked, or fall into line with whatever decision the Premier and the government make.

Allies close to Ms Garrett said that she would be "part of a solution that all parties can live with".

Pressure is also on ministers sitting on the expenditure review sub-committee to ensure that Victorians are not ripped off.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the CFA did not get a fair hearing and called for Mr Roe - a former AMWU national president - to remove himself from the dispute resolution process, saying he had not delivered an independent assessment.

Mr Guy promised to highlight Mr Roe's union and Labor connections in Parliament next week.

UFU secretary Peter Marshall hit morning radio, citing Commissioner Roe's ruling that the agreement only affected professional CFA staff.

Mr Roe's ruling stated: "The role of volunteers in fighting bushfires and maintaining community safety and delivering high quality services to the public in remote and regional areas and in integrated stations is not altered by this agreement."

Mr Marshall called on the CFA, volunteers and the opposition to end the scare campaign, especially regarding one of the most controversial recommendations – one heavily resisted by the CFA – a rule requiring seven paid firefighters be dispatched to any incident.

"Now it is time to calm down and deal with the facts," he said. "The reality is that volunteer firefighters will continue to be essential to the safety of the Victorian community."

The CFA board met and reviewed the Fair Work recommendations on Thursday and remain "seriously concerned" about what impact they will have on it.

Among the chief worries are provisions it says would diminish the ability of the Chief Officer to allocate and deploy resources, give the union too much say in decisions and reduce the work of volunteers.

There is also pushback against the union's resistance to have both volunteers and career firefighters on the same truck

Warrandyte fire brigade captain Adrian Mullens said he supported the CFA board. "They're looking after our interests and they're looking after the community interests," he said.

Mr Mullens said he hoped CFA volunteers would not resign over the new agreement.

"We work very closely with the permanent staff from Eltham and MFB and we've got an absolutely spectacular working relationship," he said.

Mr Mullens said he would encourage people to join the CFA regardless of the outcome of the EBA but said he could understand if volunteers were disillusioned about recent events.

 – The Age