If you go back to the 90s, you will find that it was the fire services, by whatever name in each state, that were vehemently opposed to aerial assets.
We had CL215s demonstrated here only to be dismissed as the "fires here are different"
In North America, aircraft such as the purpose-built Canadiar CL-215 floatplane utilise North America’s massive system of lakes to scoop six thousand litres of water in less than twenty seconds, then dumping this onto nearby fires.
In Australia, that readily available fresh water is unavailable. Our aircraft primarily operate from fixed bases, using tank water or retardant. Salt water can be used with associated operational and environmental restrictions.
Canadair in their study put that notion to bed.
In any event the fundamental purpose of the SuperScooper is to put out bush fires before they rage out of control
One of the biggest criticisms of the aircraft is the supposed lack of water sources suitable for scooping. The fact is that there is more scoopable water adjacent to high risk areas (see attached maps) than the detractors would have you believe. In many, many cases, a quick survey of your fire district will indicate that scooping water is available. The combined national firefighting forces which responded to the New South Wales fires could have been very effectively supported by Canadair aircraft.For example, the fire which almost destroyed Winmalee in the Blue Mountains could have been controlled two days before the fire reached the urban area. Scooping from the Nepean river, and with a flying distance of23 kilometers to Mt. Wilson,
2 CL-215's could have dropped at least 188,000 liters of firefighting foam on the fire before nightfall on Thursday, leaving fire crews to trek in to the fire site the next morning to black out the fire completely. Instead, nearly three days passed, with a very risky backburn conducted, before the fire hit Winmalee with terrifying force.
To the north, in the Banyabba Nature Reserve, Bush Fire units had to drive for four hours before reaching the fire front whereas two CL-215's could have dropped a conservative 288,000 liters of fire fighting foam per day on the fire.