From space, the ferocity of Queensland’s bushfires is revealed - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-08/from-space,-the-ferocity-of-queenslands-bushfires-is-revealed/10594662 In the face of an unimaginable bushfire threat, emergency agencies delivered a dire warning: evacuate now or burn to death. For many, it was a signal that last week’s unfolding emergency would be unlike any fire Queensland had faced in recent memory. In a perfect storm of extreme heat and fierce winds, fires erupted across a huge stretch of Queensland. Properties were razed and entire towns were almost wiped off the map. The fires were so intense they even penetrated rainforests — a phenomenal occurrence which has astounded and alarmed fire scientists. “Rainforests are non-burnable. That’s one of their distinguishing features. So if a rainforest is burning, that’s really significant,” said David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science at the University of Tasmania. Fire scientist David Bowman said he was astounded by the scale and intensity of the Queensland bushfire emergency. But what really caused him concern are the fires further north, near Mackay, which have penetrated the region’s rainforests. “I know of no comparable event in scientific literature,” he said. “This isn’t a fire burning into the edge of a rainforest and stopping. This is a fire that seems to be burning through rainforests. And we’re seeing fires of astonishing intensity.” “For them to be burning up is telling us just how extreme the fire weather conditions are, how stressed the vegetation is,” Professor Bowman said. Professor Bowman, who has spent most of his career studying rainforest boundaries and fires, has visited all the stand-out fires events that have taken place in the world over the past few years. What took place in Queensland, he believes, is entirely consistent with fires in other parts of the world, both in intensity and their links to a changing climate. “It all ties together as being this signature of a warming, drying climate that makes vegetation burn but, more worryingly, burn in a way that is really outside our mainstream experience. So we’re on a learning curve.” “This is the terrestrial equivalent of ice sheeting breaking up.” Andrew Sturgess of QFES said the events of the last couple of weeks are evidence that the warnings of more frequent and more extreme fires caused by climate change had arrived. “From a fire perspective, Queensland has changed. Australia has changed.” Someone on Reddit posted this before and after shot of the rainforest. It'll take hundreds of years to grow back, assuming it ever grows back at all. https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/a476cp/fires_in_queensland/

Apparently those before / after shots aren't of the same place This is still extremely shitty, to say it lightly. A fucking rainforest burning down, that shouldn't even be happening. I mean, bushfires in Australia are normal, but not ones that just go through parts of a whole rainforest. It really makes me sad that this is what we are heading to and it'll only get worse. This and the deforestation of other rainforests makes me wonder if we are even going to have any of those wonders left in the near future. They are my favourite kind of forests, if you've ever been in one you'd probably know why. They are just so full of peace and life.

Fucking Chinese torching rainforests just to lend credence to their stupid global warming hoax! /s if it isn't obvious.

Trump stopped bitching about China once he realised how much money he could make off of em. His new enemy is people who just disagree with him and don't sell their leaves to mulch companies.

god the source article animations are cancer on my phone also bushfires are just a part of life here, the flora thrives off it.

Yes it is part of life for some areas, but not for tropical rainforests which are being burnt through, and not at this intensity with bushfires becoming increadibly more serve due to climate change.

Sure but not when it's out of control like this.

Did you actually even read the OP, let alone the article, before posting? Cause it kinda explicitly addresses exactly why this point of view is wrong. The fires were so intense they even penetrated rainforests — a phenomenal occurrence which has astounded and alarmed fire scientists. “Rainforests are non-burnable. That’s one of their distinguishing features. So if a rainforest is burning, that’s really significant,” said David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science at the University of Tasmania.

Yes, here is the actual place apparently. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtiH9huUcAAD-F3.jpg:large

Vast majority of the land was bushland that is commonly burnt by fire though and is normal. Though the rainforest area that was burnt was from multiple factors leading up to it, and is definitely uncommon but it happens. Its just rare.

Literally in the thing you are replying to, as well as the OP “Rainforests are non-burnable. That’s one of their distinguishing features. So if a rainforest is burning, that’s really significant,” said David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science at the University of Tasmania. What part of "rainforests don't burn" makes this event somehow normal, if uncommon? It seems that, judging by the statements in the article, this is the only time ever that a rainforest in Australia has burned from a wildfire. And considering that the region's climate is drying out, those forests will probably never recover to the state they were before.

Fire scientist David Bowman said he was astounded by the scale and intensity of the Queensland bushfire emergency. But what really caused him concern are the fires further north, near Mackay, which have penetrated the region’s rainforests. “I know of no comparable event in scientific literature,” he said. “This isn’t a fire burning into the edge of a rainforest and stopping. This is a fire that seems to be burning through rainforests. And we’re seeing fires of astonishing intensity.” You seem to be writing it off as a nonissue because most of it wasn't rainforests. The fact of the matter is though that because part of it was rainforest that makes it extremely significant. On top of being quite humid and thus having wet foliage, the composition of rainforest plants is frequently more resistant to catching on fire than other types of flora. So things getting hot and dry enough to burn rainforests is an extremely significant event.

Any forest can burn if the air is dry enough, the wind is strong enough and the fire is hot enough. All those conditions combined with a heat wave happened on those days.

Do you actually have some evidence of this or is this just more of your layman "wisdom"?

Rainforests not burning is indeed one of their extinguishing features