The Southwest Fire Science Consortium (SWFSC) is one of fifteen regional consortia supported by the Joint Fire Science Program and is part of a national fire science knowledge exchange network. The consortium is a way for managers, scientists, and policy makers to interact and share science in ways that can effectively move new information to management practices. The Southwest is one of the most fire-dominated regions of the US, but limited in terms of regional organizations focused on fire research and information dissemination. In the Southwest there are many localized efforts to develop scientific information and to disseminate that to practitioners on the ground, but these initiatives are often not well coordinated or aware of all the information and resources that are available. The real need for a consortium is to help bring these parallel efforts together to be more efficient and inclusive. We also seek to link the academic community and the management community in educating future fire professionals with up-to-date science as well as practical experience.