Abstract. The health and function of forest ecosystems throughout the world include periodic exposure to disturbances such as fire. Fire has been instrumental in the evolution of large segments of flora and fauna and in preventing fuel accumulations that resulted in extreme fire behaviour and ecosystem degradation. However, wildland fuels have been accumulating over several of the past decades because of suppression-orientated wildland fire policies, silvicultural and grazing practices, invasions of invasive species, increased density and range of flammable indigenous plants, landscape fragmentation, and related natural and anthropogenic causes. The additional fuels have contributed to increased severe fire behaviour, fire intensity, forest mortality, and post-fire soil damage and erosion. The aftermath of severe wildland fires include ecosystems degraded by extreme fire temperatures and duration, reductions in ecosystem function, altered forest structure, altered natural fire regimes, and increased wildfire risk and imminent threats to life and property from uncontrollable fires. We review 10 years of advances in fire science in the eight papers presented in this Special Issue. The studies and reviews are compiled to present the diverse disciplines of fire science that range from the social science of the public's perception of fire to basic research on the theory of fire spread.