I can’t help but think of analogy to engineering orgs where leadership places higher value on engineers whose highly visible “heroics” fix a mess they created in the first place, rather than the engineer that makes boring decisions that prevent the problems in the first place.

I have zero knowledge or expertise in forest management or wildfire fighting, but I suspect there isn’t a simply a single method that’s more effective. Meaningful progress likely requires an interrelated system of measures spanning education, policy, understanding risk tolerances, prevention and response. But if expensive response measures — with low-efficacy — are taken primarily for political reasons, I’d love to see the political value shift to more boring proactive measures. With that said, I don’t have any understanding/data on efficacy of tankers, or what proactive measures would be more valuable, just thinking aloud.

It's not that aerial drops aren't effective. But the way they are used is sometimes more political than practical.