Potential Fire Hazard

I have been riding my Ace for the past week on some woodland trails. There are quite a few dried oak leaves and lots of pine straw. When I was washing the Ace this morning I noticed that leaves and pine straw had accumulated between the skid plates and the transmission and engine. I could not wash it out with the hose and finally poked most of it out with a small wooden dowel. I am going to try and fashion a plastic hook to scrape it out. I have a dozer that has had two fires from the same sort of debris collecting on the top of the engine. I don't know for sure that it will ignite from the Ace engine heat but my experience with the dozer makes me vary wary of organic debris and engines. The second fire cost me a lot of money. I am definitely going to take Scoundrel's advice and install a fire extinguisher behind the seat. If you are riding where there are dried leaves and pine straw I would also recommend some device to remove the organic debris from underneath the engines at rest stops.