Live fuels are a key component to the wildland fuel complex but little is know about their contribution to fire danger or fire behavior. This review attempts to quantify our current understanding of the role that live fuels play in combustion and how those characteristics are quantified into prediction systems that fire managers use to assess fire danger or fire behavior as well as how live fuel parameters for those systems are measured. We review how live fuels are incorporated into three fire danger and fire behavior prediction systems that have found widespread use throughout the world. We discuss the two primary methods used to characterize live fuels spatially, namely through field sampling and satellite proxy. Throughout, we seek to illuminate future pathways to research that may improve our understanding of the role that live fuels play in wildland fire. Finally, we present the development of a national historical live fuel moisture database and interface that will simplify data management and analysis for local units.