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October is Fire Safety Month, and Kansas Forest Service fire prevention specialist Shawna Hartman urges Kansans to inspect their home ignition zones. The first zone, from zero to five feet around the home, is most vulnerable to ember showers—tiny sparks that can ignite debris more often than direct flames.

Hartman advises keeping gutters, eaves, and foundations clear of dry leaves, mulch, and vegetation and recommends additional precautions in the second zone to reduce fire spread.

“Then we’ve got from 5 to 30 feet. And that’s where a lot of times your trees are there and just limbing up your trees, making sure your lawn is well watered and mowed and green, where again, those embers wouldn’t carry all the way to your structures or to your home.”

Hartman explained that the third ignition zone, which extends 30 to 100 feet from the home, often overlaps with neighboring properties. She emphasized the importance of communication and collaboration, encouraging a neighborhood approach to fire prevention.

“If you don’t have neighbors that are that close, that space is where if there’s any dead and down fuel, any dead and down trees, making sure that those are cut up and hauled off. Again, at least once or twice a year, making sure your grass is mowed and that thatch is down. This is areas where you could do some prescribed burning too.”

She said intentional burning is one of our main causes for wildfires in Kansas.