In recent decades increasing numbers of wild (bush) fires have been observed around the World.Reliable predictions as to future trends, and an adequate understanding of the nature of fire/ environmental relationships, remain very much works in progress.In Australia, as an example, a major study in 2007 predicted further increases in wildfire occurrence and intensity as a result of a changing climate.With the Earths human population having now passed 7 billion, cities everywhere are expanding into the hinterland-existing forests are being cleared and burnt and remaining forests suffer increased risk of ignition.Concurrently, forests have emerged as a key player in climate change because trees and other plants can remove huge amounts of CO2 from of the atmosphere and sequester the carbon for decades.A raging wildfire, however, can reverse those gains by vaporizing vast swathes of vegetation.Since 2003, fire, emergency service and land management agencies across Australia and New Zealand, together with twenty universities and related research organisations, have been working closely with successive national governments and federal agencies to reduce the threats posed to the community by wildfire.Clearly all fire results in greenhouse gas emissions and can cause varied changes to carbon stocks.Continued interdisciplinary research is critical to better understand complex processes such as fire/ atmosphere/climate/environmental interactions.Support for research and integration across these fields is essential if the wider community is to advance with new knowledge, tools and technologies.A national approach to wildfire-related research, together with strong and developing international links, appears, to date, to be a productive way forward.