The Fire Science Innovations through Research and Education (FIRE) program, established by the National Science Foundation (NSF), aims to support innovative, multidisciplinary, and multisector investigations focused on wildland fire science. This initiative is rooted in the urgency to transform societal understanding and response to wildland fire dynamics as they rapidly grow more complex due to environmental, social, and technological changes. The NSF, a leading federal agency promoting science and engineering through research and education, seeks to realign how communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems interact with wildland fire events by advancing convergent research frameworks.

The FIRE program funds projects across all scientific, engineering, and educational fields supported by the NSF, encouraging participation from a diverse range of stakeholders, including academics, scientists, industry partners, community members, Tribal representatives, and others. Proposals must focus on new advances in data acquisition, modeling, community resilience, infrastructure protection, and stakeholder engagement concerning wildland fire. The research is expected to provide insights into cross-scale interactions of fire events, promote new adaptive governance strategies, and foster broader community involvement in fire science.

The program is divided into three primary focus areas. FIRE-MODEL supports the development of next-generation coupled fire models to improve predictive capabilities and understand fire dynamics using advanced computational methods, Earth observation data, and experimental approaches. FIRE-WUI addresses the vulnerabilities and resilience of the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), supporting research that informs governance, public perception, socioeconomic disparities, and engineering solutions for fire-impacted infrastructure. FIRE-NET aims to foster collaborative networks and conferences that synthesize fire science knowledge, coordinate multidisciplinary education, and promote international and intersectoral partnerships.

Submissions must conform to the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide or Grants.gov guidelines. Proposals can be submitted via Research.gov or Grants.gov. The program operates with set submission windows, with upcoming proposal windows from June 12 to June 20, 2025, and February 3 to February 10, 2026, continuing annually each February thereafter. Submissions must be made by 5:00 p.m. local time of the proposing organization.

Evaluation criteria are aligned with NSF standards, focusing on intellectual merit and broader impacts. Proposals will be reviewed in consultation with partner organizations, and reviews may be shared anonymously with these partners. Each proposal must clearly demonstrate a convergence approach in line with FIRE objectives, addressing at least one of the key research themes outlined under the program’s focus areas.

For inquiries, multiple program directors across various NSF directorates can be contacted via the shared email wildlandfire@nsf.gov, with individual contacts provided for specific technical queries. The full list of program contacts and their organizational affiliations is included in the official program announcement.