The risk of devastating wildfires has increased for both historically-prone regions and areas where blazes were rare. In Oregon, large summertime forest fires are now routine events, recently punctuated by “mega-fires” in 2020 and 2022. The 2020 Labor Day fires burned over 1.2 million acres and cost nearly $354 million to fight, collectively becoming the most expensive disaster in the state's history. Amateur radio wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are uniquely positioned to address fire hazards and advance wildfire science in the 21st century. Spatially distributed digital systems offer innovative ways to: 1) enhance fire prediction and detection; 2) exchange real-time tactical information during active fires; 3) monitor fire-driven landscape evolution; and 4) answer fundamental questions in wildfire science. Here, we summarize efforts taken under a NASA OSGC Faculty Research Award to close critical gaps in our understanding of wildfire behavior using a combination of instrumented pico-balloons, smart mesh sensor networks, laboratory experiments, and numerical modeling. Beyond wildfire science, this FRA has fomented a number of interdisciplinary research fronts at Portland State University (involving students from engineering, computer science, geophysics, and physics) as well as new amateur radio student group. Additionally, the program has catalyzed new avenues to engage with the public and ways to involve communities in fire science and disaster resiliency.