Our state was designed to burn.

In bone-dry California, wildfire is an ever-present threat, especially in the parched months of September and October when forests feel like tinderboxes and grasslands need only a wayward spark to ignite.

Wildfires are part of our climate's biological cycle. Nature uses flame to thin vegetation and renew the soil's nutrients. Our homes just happen to get in the way.

Fire doesn't play favorites. It's an equal-opportunity catastrophe. No matter where you live in California, your home is at risk. That includes the city as well as the hills and mountains.

From one end of our state to the other, nature delivered another series of wake-up calls this week. In Auburn, dozens of homes and businesses were lost to the 49 fire.

To the south, the mammoth Station fire blackened more than 200 square miles, an area bigger than the cities of San Francisco or Chicago. It ranks as the biggest fire in Los Angeles history and won't be fully controlled until sometime next week – if nature cooperates.

These disasters should be reminders: If you live in a fire zone, you need to be ready.

Our family has had its own brush with flame. In October 2007, the Slide fire raced through the San Bernardino Mountain hamlet of Green Valley Lake, where we've had a large cabin since the 1940s.

Our valley had been untouched by fire for more than 80 years. The old-growth pines and cedars made it among the prettiest mountain communities in the southland. But it also gave us a false sense of security.

The Slide fire started from embers left over from a previous fire, miles away and contained more than two weeks earlier but breathed back to life by wind. That earlier fire ignited from embers from a blaze touched off by a Sept. 1 lightning strike. Six weeks after that thunderstorm, the mountain was still burning.

When the smoke finally cleared, the nearly 13,000- acre Slide fire had destroyed more than 125 homes and most of our little village. Although cabins directly behind us and within 100 yards on either side were turned to ashes, our place escaped.

We were thankful we had cleared our brush and created a defensible space.

Fire's threat isn't limited to forests. As a young reporter, I watched a 1980s firestorm demolish two entire city blocks in Anaheim in an afternoon.

A downed power line turned a palm tree into a 30-foot torch. The Santa Ana wind whipped embers from rooftop to rooftop as the fire hopscotched throughout the neighborhood – miles away from hillsides or "traditional" danger zones.

In my Sacramento neighborhood in 2000, a neighbor's house exploded when fumes from stored gasoline accumulated in a closed garage and were ignited by the water heater's pilot light. The fire consumed that home and damaged several nearby.

Fire safety starts at home. We all need to be ready. To that end, the California Fire Safety Council and the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection offer this advice:

• Be prepared for quick action. Keep your garden hose connected to the water spigot.

• Have fire-fighting tools handy, including a long- handled shovel and rake, a ladder tall enough to reach your roof, one or more 5-pound fire extinguishers, a garbage can full of water (cover tightly to prevent mosquito breeding) and at least one bucket.

• Stop the flames from ever getting started. Mow the lawn early in the morning. (There's more moisture in the air, less chance of sparks.) Make sure power tools have spark arresters. Soak used barbecue coals to douse any latent embers.

• In city or country, maintain a 100-foot wide zone of defensible space around your home. Clean up dead branches, leaves and needles. (That includes the roof and gutters.)

• Clear weeds and cut the grass. Keep shrubs short (especially close to structures). Remove lower branches from trees so fire can't climb up. Stack woodpiles at least 30 feet away from your home.

• Water regularly. Green is less likely to burn than brown. For landscaping, choose plants that are fire- resistant and keep them well-spaced. Don't create a path of fuel for fire to follow to your door.

• Talk about fire safety with your family. Have a plan. Know where your valuables, important papers and irreplaceable keepsakes are kept, and what you want to take if you have five minutes to evacuate. With the smell of smoke still fresh, a good time for that chat is now.

Call The Bee's Debbie Arrington, (916) 321-1075.