Efficiency enchantment does not help, nor does diamond shovel (1.16.0.61)
Same bug for framed maps
Apologies, I failed to check the database... this is a duplicate of other existing problems.
Apparently doFireTick globally sets the environment across worlds, because fire now spreads and burns properly in all of my worlds. I still don't know why it didn't work right originally, and I believe that is "bug-like" behavior - users should not have to change otherwise hidden environment variables to enable standard game functions. However, I appreciate your quick review of this issue. Thank you.
Using a throwaway world, I set doFireTick = true, and fire spreads as it should. My question remains, however: why does this not work in the Vanilla no-cheats Survival mode. Is doFireTick set to false by default, and if so, why?
"Fire Spreads" is definitely on. I am playing without cheats enabled, so I cannot access "doFireTick".
Edit - the Java edition bug is MC 108082