Do allied firebombings during WWII constitute war crimes?

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Yes. And it should be noted that the Americans to their credit recognised that the RAF's bombing of civilians in Germany was ineffectual and motivated more out of spite; but failed to take this into account in the Pacific theatre for a variety of reasons.

I find it hard not to consider them war crimes. I'm not an cultural relativist, so I'm not going to say people are "excused" because different times. The deliberate targeting of civilians is always wrong, under both deontological and utilitarian grounds; no matter if it's William the Conquerer, Harry Truman or Bashar Al-Assad doing the deed.

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Some people seem to think attacking Allied policy is automatically saying something ridiculous like "both sides were as bad as the other". It's not, it's a reflection that we can look back at our history and recognise our own nations did some appalling stunts to little meaningful effect,