If there’s any opportunity to suck trumps cock and blame “leftist government” for anything in the news cycle some posters just can’t help themselves.If you ask Google where they are, you'll find that the companies that operated this kind of tanker all went belly up, and the tankers have been sold to airlines for conversion into cargo aircraft.
You might also find that air operations start getting dicey as winds go above 30-40 MPH. Windy conditions create turbulence near the ground that make it increasingly unsafe to operate at low altitudes. The higher they drop from, the less accurate the drop, and the more it dissipates. Increasing winds exacerbate this - the 50-80 MPH winds they've seen in these fires mean they would have to drop from higher altitude, which means the wind carries it even more/farther, and makes them less effective.
As for the reservoirs - apparently this passed in 2014. For most of the period between then and now, the big news out of California has been continuing drought and declining reservoir/lake levels. I don't see a lot of point in rushing to build reservoirs when the ones you have are drying out. In the last 12-18 months, the drought has eased in northern California, but most of the south - including the entire LA area - remains in moderate to severe drought. Which is a big part of why it burns so easily.
As for "cleaning the forest floor" I don't know if you've been in SoCal much, but there's not much forest there. That's not really something that's relevant to the current situation.
That said I have work colleagues who’ve evacuated their homes and aren’t sure if they’ll be standing by the end of the week, so leaf raking and fire hydrants aside, praying for the folks who are dealing with this mess…very unfortunate and scary situation.