This fire up and around Arthurs pass could have been under control now if the Air Force were given the MAFFS ( Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System)
Its designed to load straight into a C-130...Any version.
Position one or two here in NZCH , and one in the north of the south.
This will become an ongoing problem down here, its getting hotter and drier by the week.
It could and would save lives..... stop putting local chopper pilots lives at risk, for basically peeing in the wind with underslung buckets full of swimming pool water.