@S!LVER There is NO need to be concerned about grilling directly on your wood deck, as you can see by the attached image ... LoL.I've since replaced these old dry cedar planks with new fresh ones and I've also purchased "under garments" for all of the non-OTG kettles that I use. I've seen hot coal stick in chimney starters, I've seen hot coals roll down the ash hill under both daisy wheeler and OTS kettles, and I've seen a heat-deflector free WSM toast an older wooden deck. I still keep my extinguisher at hand, but I feel better about walking away from a long cook with this new mind-set. SJ