As posted above it depends on a lot of things. If its small and remote, sometimes helicopters are the the only way. As to the big fires, many things are not effective untill things such as weather and allocation of equipment are met to start controlling the fire properly.
As with the recent fires Im sure for a time most of the helicopters were just trying to save what they could and did a great job. The thing was way out of anyones control. Mother nature does that at times.
So if its your house in the path, Im sure you would be greatful for a bucket load of water......