A fleet of water scooping planes, lauded as the champions of Canada's firefighting fleet, are iced in and cannot make it to Australia to help fight fires.

Key points: Australia requested a fleet of CL-415 firefighting planes from Canada in December

Australia requested a fleet of CL-415 firefighting planes from Canada in December The planes are unable to leave Canada due to icy conditions

The planes are unable to leave Canada due to icy conditions Two US water bombers have been delayed in getting to Australia due to international disasters

The CL-415 "super scoopers" can land on dams, lakes or the sea and scoop up water to drop on fires.

7.30 has learned that despite early warnings of a dangerous fire season, authorities only requested the planes in December, by which time they were grounded by the frigid Canadian winter.

Stuart Ellis from the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC), confirmed they would not make it to Australia.

"Canada can't physically deploy those aircraft to Australia currently because of icing conditions," he said.

The NAFC is now scrambling to source other scooping planes from France and Malaysia.

Yesterday it was revealed two US air tankers due to arrive in Australia had been delayed due to natural disasters.

Greg Mullins says it is vital to have more firefighting aircraft available. ( ABC News: Greg Nelson )

Former fire chief Greg Mullins told 7.30 he thinks homes could have been saved if Australia had more water bombers.

"I do believe that if we'd had more aircraft in the sky, possibly we could have saved more homes," he said.

"Aircraft don't put out fires, but they give you a fighting chance to save life and property.

"They take the intensity out of those fire fronts to allow the ground crews to get in and do their work."

Getting planes to Australia

A DC-10 water bomber like this one has been delayed in the US and is now expected to arrive in Australia later this week. ( Reuters: Mike Blake )

The NAFC leases planes from around the country and overseas each fire season and is funded by the states, territories and the Federal Government.

States and territories request aircraft as they need them, and the centre tries to source them.

In November last year, the NAFC's Mr Ellis said he was confident Australia had enough water bombers for the impending season. It is now ordering more.

In 2019, former fire chiefs warned the Federal Government it needed to permanently fund the NAFC, but their warnings were ignored until this fire season was underway.

The Federal Government has now committed ongoing funding to the NAFC and kicked in up to $20 million for four large new water bombers, including the two delayed in America.

Australia's fire services rely heavily on aircraft leased from the United States and Europe.

But with fire seasons in America and Australia starting to overlap, aircraft are not making it to Australia in time.

7.30 has learned the well-known water bombing helicopter Elvis is still in the US, believed to be undergoing maintenance, after the fire season there.

The NAFC says it will put a business case to the Federal Government at the end of this season to request funding to buy more planes.

It also flagged it would look to have planes here earlier, starting in September, rather than November, to respond to the changing fire season.

The Prime Minister's office said in a statement it had been taking expert advice.

"Whether it's helping coordinate which offers of international support states and territories want to accept or what further water bombing planes need funding, we've been acting on everything that is asked of us by the country's fire chiefs," the statement said.

"We listen to the expert advice and the business case submitted by the National Aerial Firefighting Centre is why our Government committed an extra $11 million this summer and last summer for water bombing aircraft on top of the annual budget and it's why when we were asked to fund an extra plane at 8:00pm on Friday, 3 January, we responded the next morning with an extra $20 million that would support four planes."

"That ongoing support will be there at that level into the future."