There are companies in Germany with thousands and thousands of hours experience in fire fighting (Agrarflug just to name one of several), but like you said, I also think this is more a political thing so the police can turn around and say "look at all the things we can do"...
From my observation of police and border police pilots, and from being a military instructor, I can tell you that commercial operators do 4 to 5 times the amount of drops in the same time the government is doing 1....
But again, this is a political thing... So we should maybe leave "efficiency" out of the equation.....
But I consider it poor management that they have not approached experienced long line instructors to instruct the pilots.... Long line is nothing you just pick up yourself on the go..