It is the unfortunate reality that probably even 100 Elvis's or fixed wing aircraft wouldn't have stopped these fires.
At one point in suburbia a small grass fire wiped out 5 houses in 10 minutes. The wind and temperature had to be seen to be believed.
What capability would such aircraft have at night? The same as day? as in these fires the majority of the damage was done at night, or if it wasn't at night, it was completely dark due to the smoke.
At one stage I was down in Sale and it was pitch black at 3pm in the afternoon, completely stopping any aircraft movements and Sale was at-least 50-60 kms from the fire-front.
At another airfield the cropdusting aircraft had to be grounded due to the extreme turbulence due to the 40+ knot winds in the 46 degree temperatures.
Nasty, nasty stuff.