Bushfires are an environmental problem and have been the cause of many lost lives in Australia. They do play a role in regeneration though. As implausible as it may seem, some plants need fire to grow. That is something we learned on Fraser Island. Thus fires are an essential part of the ecology of the continent. Most of them are controlled fires and are used to clean up the bush. Still, it is pretty impressive (and incomprehensible) driving at night in the middle of a forest on fire (photo)!
