File:Fires in Queensland (MODIS 2020-11-27).jpg

English: On October 15, 2020, a small fire ignited on Queensland’s Fraser Island – likely from an illegal campfire. By November 26 that small fire had turned into a relentless inferno, charring 72,000 hectares of the island's unique vegetation. According to Wildfire Today, the fire now stretches across 46 miles of the 76-mile long island and appears to burn in a mosaic pattern, leaving some vegetation unburnt within the fire footprint.

Frasier Island is the world’s largest sand island and an UNESCO World Heritage site. It is unique not only for the size of the shifting sand dunes, but also for its rainforests. According to the World Heritage description, “Inland from the beach are majestic remnants of tall rainforest growing on tall sand dunes, a phenomenon believed to be unique in the world. Half of the world’s perched freshwater dune lakes occur on the island, producing a spectacular and varied landscape. The world’s largest unconfined aquifer on a sand island has also been found here.” The trees on the island rise to 50 meters (164 feet) - the same height as the tallest building in the District of Columbia, the capital city of the United States.

It's not just the rainforest that is unique on the island. UNESCO's description continues, “There is clear zonation and succession of plant communities according to salinity, water table, age and nutrient status of dune sands, exposure and fire frequency. The low shrubby heaths (‘wallum’) are of considerable evolutionary and ecological significance. Fauna, including a number of threatened species of frog, have adapted to the highly specialized acidic environment associated with wet heathlands and sedgelands in this siliceous sand environment.”

According to fire fighters, the fire is moving slowly southward, giving some animals time to move out of the fire zone. The weather has been dry for “quite some time”, according to one report, and strong winds are making fire fighting difficult. A heatwave is expected for the next week over eastern Queensland, which will not help fire fighters quench the flames that threaten this unique environment.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of fires across Queensland on November 23. Frasier Island can be seen just off the Queensland coast and is covered with red hot spots and smoke. Each hot spot marks an area where the thermal bands detected temperatures higher than background. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hot spots mark actively burning fire. Aside from the massive Fraser Island fire, at least a half-dozen bushfires can be seen burning on the mainland. Strong winds blow the smoke to the southwest.