Greetings all,
I think you should grab experience from wherever you can get it in life and death situations. Beetling around in smoke is NO PLACE for getting experience. If overseas guys are current and expert why not grab the journeymen. The punters on the ground in their shorts and singlets holding the garden hoses around smouldering garden beds won't care one little bit.
Incidentally,
AFAIK one of the companies earlier mentioned, isn't Australian owned and has a high proportion of overseas pilots on past and present employment lists anyway. Despite the name.
Maybe, someone may be able to enlighten the forum on the carding system used in Nth American fire fighting operations. Does this is the type of system ensure that you are trained up qualified to be chasing flames and smoke?
Cheers,
DD