Wild and managed fires have become increasingly prevalent across North America since the 1980's. Interest and concern about the influence of fire on ecological systems has also increased (Laverty and Williams 2000, USDA 2000). We summarize a symposium on fire and avian ecology, identifying patterns and differences in bird responses to various fire conditions in vegetative communities across North America. The symposium was presented at the Third International Partners in Flight Conference, Asilomar, California, on 23 March 2002. Fourteen major vegetation types, their corresponding fire regimes, and the associated bird communities are reviewed in ten chapters. Summaries of these chapters are included in this volume, but more developed treatments will appear in the monograph series, Studies in Avian Biology (Saab and Powell, in press).