Whether the goal is to improve wildlife habitat, gauge the effects of prescribed burns or wildfire, or assess the unaccustomed conditions and hidden dangers of fallen trees in the aftermath of hurricanes, a suite of tools developed by the Fire and Environmental Research Applications (FERA) Team at the Pacific Northwest Research Station, Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, allows resource managers to estimate fuel loads, fire hazards, and smoke emissions characteristics in a wide range of forest and grassland ecosystems. The Natural Fuels Photo Series, developed by FERA's Roger Ottmar, is a field guide for resource managers who need a quick way to gauge fuel load. Complementary computer programs allow managers to predict the behavior of wildfire or prescribed fire and estimate smoke emissions. These assessments of fuel load, fire behavior, and fire effects will help managers fulfill increasingly strict air quality regulatory requirements for prescribed fire and assess the hazard to the public from wildfire. Key Findings include: (1) the Natural Fuels Photo Series provides a snapshot of different ecosystems for rapid assessment of fuel loads in the field; (2) as scientists predict increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes, the new hurricane photo series for the southeastern United States will provide a tool for early, quick assessment and long-range management planning; (3) the software programs CONSUME and the Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) work together with the Natural Fuels Photo Series to provide modeling of predicted fire behaviors and air pollutant emissions; (4) together, the suite of tools offers an integrated, sophisticated approach to assessment of fuel load, fire risk, and smoke hazard for managers on a wide range of ecosystems on federal, state, and private lands.