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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How was Fireman Nick Riso injured while responding to a call?
(a) He was involved in a car accident.
(b) He suffered smoke inhalation.
(c) Someone threw a brick at him while he was responding to a call.
(d) He was injured in a fire.

2. How did the Charlotte Street fire become easier to battle?
(a) More firefighters arrived on the scene.
(b) The winds shifted.
(c) Rain began falling.
(d) The rest of the roof caved in.

3. Approximately how many firefighters died each year in New York at the time the book was written?
(a) Three.
(b) Five.
(c) Twenty.
(d) Eight.

4. Which firefighter died shortly before the time Chapter 2 takes place?
(a) Bob Starr.
(b) Mike Sullivan.
(c) Mike O'Brien.
(d) Mike Carr.

5. Which writer once suggested that the story finds the author?
(a) Sarah Orne Jewett..
(b) Charlotte Gilman.
(c) Katherine Anne Porter.
(d) Shirley Jackson.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the ladder company do to get to the source of the smoke at the Charlotte Street fire?

2. Who did the firefighters encounter while bringing the hose up the stairs of the burning apartment building on Fox Street?

3. Which Irish writer did Smith discuss in his letter to the editor?

4. Why do some kids pull false fire alarms, according to the book?

5. Why did the firefighters have a difficult time getting into one of the Kelly Street apartments?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why were the firefighters remaining at the scene of the fire on Forest Avenue (in Chapter 5) unsure of the names of the injured firemen?

2. What did Katherine Anne Porter mean by "a book will find its author" and how did that apply to Dennis Smith?

3. How was Firefighter Mike Carr killed?

4. Besides the risks to firefighters, what does Dennis Smith believe is a real risk of malicious false alarms?

5. Why, according to Dennis Smith, were so many false alarms were pulled in the South Bronx?

6. How did the other firefighters look at Artie, the firefighter with the beard and degree in sociology?

7. How did Smith's mother's attitude toward work reflect an old-fashioned way of viewing labor in New York City?

8. How does Smith describe the fire marshals sent to investigate the Intervale Avenue fire?

9. How did the firefighters feel about the deaths of the two teenagers in the Intervale Avenue arson fire in Chapter 1?

10. How does the fire department announce the death of a fellow firefighter in the line of duty?

(see the answer keys)

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