Rising to No. 2 on the Hot 100 in Billboard magazine in February 1979 (behind Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"), "Fire" would eventually be tied by "Slow Hand" (1981) as the Pointer Sister's highest-charting single.
Anita Pointer would recall: "['Fire'] became [the Pointer Sisters'] first gold single: we had had gold albums before but I didn't realize what a difference a gold single made 'cause.. that one song [is played] over and over all over the world.