Squeaks - from what I know some of your info is just not right. You seem very pro RFS and thats fine but if in the current climate you reckon that they wouldn't have a heap of aircranes in a bad fire situation you should think again. The reality is that there is nothing available that is operated/owned by Aussies that will compete with them. You mention the 214b but they have big limitations as well - if you want to carry a decent payload then endurance is 4/5 of nothing. As far as buckets go Victoria has used a number of them on both the S61s and on Col Johnstons Huey. I know they prefer/need the belly tanks for rappel aircraft as it is the only way to carry a rappel crew and then immediately commence firebombing.
Having seen a few fires in my time, because it is getting dryer the fires wont lay down like they used to. The big guns are definately at an advantage over the smaller 212/205 machines when the pressure is on. I don't want to be critical of anybody particularly when the job they faced was massive but I think you need to give a bit more credit to the aircraft guys in Vic - they run a pretty tight ship.