Fire can generate in the air due to structure generation
The bug
Because of structure generation, fire can sometimes generate without a supporting block.
To reproduce
Seed: -3690904906524765661 Coordinates: /execute in minecraft:the_nether run tp @s -386 67.00 -443.78 168 -18
To make sure it is not the same as nether plants use the setblock command in the air with fire and crimson roots:
/setblock ~ ~ ~ fire /setblock ~ ~ ~ crimson_roots
Then, only the fire disappears instantly while crimson roots waits for the block next to it to update, suggesting that a different code is used for fire placement.