Air Force is the logical answer to fighting forest fires
Military has the manpower and equipment needed to do the job
The solution (to forest fires) is when there will be no more … as they will all be extinguished in their infancy. This will happen on the same day that a fire is reported and it is all done from the air. This capability will happen in less than two years after and only because Congress passes an act and the president approves it that transfers the responsibility for fighting forest fires from the Forest Service to the Air Force.
With the Air Force, they have it all: the pilots, the right-size aircraft and, critically important, in sufficient numbers to extinguish all forest fires very rapidly. The only added item is a budget to pay for this extra responsibility and other associated costs.
To clarify, the responsibility of the Forest Service is to spot and report all forest fires. Their other responsibility is, after the fire is essentially extinguished, the Forest Service can transport a few firefighters to the site to extinguish any smoldering embers and make sure the fire does not reignite.
The military are active duty personnel who will be responsible for all aspects of the aircraft involved. They are responsible for the infrastructure needed, the bays where the aircraft will be refueled and reloaded, including the large water storage tanks, even quarters for the crews. All this will be at a normal military base that is not too distant from the forest that they are to protect.
Another critical item is the size of the fire (to be) put out. The military will have extreme priority to attacking the fire ASAP with as much water as possible resulting in a (few) acres and possibly even less than 8 acres (being destroyed). This fact cannot be overstated as it is far beyond any dream by the Forest Service.
Compare this to the Forest Service plan to establish a fire line requiring two to three days, then 10 days to weeks to extinguish the fire and, during this time, it has grown to perhaps 2,000 acres or more, while also burning structures and possibly taking a life or two.
Also consider: Because of its high mobility and quick response, large tanker aircraft must be (the) optimum tool. The Forest Service has none and must rely on a bag of mixed aircraft, almost all with insufficient payloads, provided by the contractors. The Air Force will bring to the fight possibly over 100 large tanker aircraft, many including C-5As with a capability that is many times more than the Forest Service can muster. Although these aircraft will be distributed to a few bases on or near the west coast and Canada, each base should have the capability of extinguishing most all fires in their first pass.