The committee that prepared this report was charged with assessing the state of fire safety research and describing the potential role of the NSF in improving fire safety in the United States. This report highlights markers along a pathway to the future, discusses the nation’s fire research needs and the resources that will be required, and suggests a role for NSF and other key agencies and institutions. The committee urges national leaders in government and industry to aggressively support fire research needs, filling voids in the body of knowledge, sharpening engineering tools, and creating a database that will allow performance-based approaches to maximize their contribution to public safety in the United States.