Sad news, those Russian pilots are really quite brave.
I was caught in the thick of it in the great fires in Greece during 2007 where the Be-200 was tasked to assist.
Unfortunately it flew too fast to load up in choppy seas and just couldn't drop water from low enough levels in mountainous terrain to be effective, it was sent back as the Canadair CLs proved to be extremely precise. On a positive note, the Be-200 did look like it could deliver a quite a punch 100s km inland on flat terrain in minutes over and over again, much faster than a lumbering CL straining itself at max weight.