While the characteristic times scales associated with fire propagation/suppression and high-speed reacting flows differ by orders of magnitude, the same fundamental transport and finite-rate chemical kinetic principles can be applied to address challenging issues in both systems. During this presentation, the breadth of fundamental reacting flow investigations supported by the NSF Combustion and Fire Systems Program will be highlighted. More importantly, often overlooked collaborative and cross-cutting funding opportunities available for researchers in engineering will also be discussed.