Wildland fire is a quintessential cross-boundary challenge for ecosystem management. Fires rarely stop at political boundaries, and ongoing shifts in fire regimes have global implications. Yet fire research is often done at local scales and is rarely replicated or standardized across international boundaries. Questions that could be addressed at a cross-boundary scale include, how can data on fire extent and burn severity be integrated at continental scales to generate standardized monitoring of fire trends? How can research designs and study questions related to postfire vegetation and wildlife dynamics be replicated across international boundaries? How can information on fire occurrence and fire effects from multiple countries be better integrated to benefit local people, given diversity in cultures, land tenure and livelihoods? How can local partners be engaged in the scientific process? This session aims to bring together scientists working in Canada, The United States, and Mexico to highlight recent fire ecology research that integrates methodologies to address these important issues in wildland fire science at an international scale. Through a series of case studies, we will highlight international data sets and opportunities for improved international collaboration on fire ecology research. This objective is well-timed with the international focus of this year’s ESA meeting and the increasing importance of wildland fire as an ecosystem process that will increasingly impact almost all aspects of terrestrial ecology over the coming decades.