Over the weekend, a bushfire destroyed the Binna Burra Lodge, one of Australia’s oldest nature resorts — drawing tears from neighbors and alarm from officials who warned that climate change and drought threatened to bring Australia its worst fire season on record.

Dr Joëlle Gergis from the Fenner School of Environment & Society warned that Australia’s experience “is a sign of things to come.”

“It is devastating to see these usually cool and wet rainforests burn,” she said. “Although these remarkable rainforests have clung on since the age of the dinosaurs, searing heat and lower rainfall is starting to see these wet areas dry out for longer periods of the year, increasing bushfire risk in these precious ecosystems.”

Read the full article at the New York Times website.