In August 2009, the executive team of Partners in Fire Education (PIFE) asked the Joint Fire Science Program for assistance with identifying how research could best inform its public outreach efforts to increase public understanding of fire's natural role in ecosystems and the benefits of fire management to ecosystems and public health and safety. To take advantage of the substantial base of potentially relevant research already available, the Joint Fire Science Program funded a targeted synthesis of scientific knowledge on public views and understanding of fire and management.