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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 would firefighters have designed a building differently to make firefighting easier, according to Smith?
(a) They would have restricted the height.
(b) They would have designed better staircases.
(c) They would have had more fire escapes.
(d) They would have eliminated elevators.

2. What board game were the firemen playing in Chapter 3?
(a) Backgammon.
(b) Monopoly.
(c) Risk.
(d) Scrabble.

3. What did the firefighters discover when they arrived at the Kelly Street fire in Chapter 1?
(a) A young man, on fire, running out of the building.
(b) A young man calling from an open window.
(c) A young woman screaming that her child is in the building.
(d) A young man fleeing the scene.

4. Why did the firefighters think the car in the middle of Stebbins Avenue was stolen?
(a) The steering wheel was gone.
(b) The wheels and tires had been removed.
(c) The radio was gone.
(d) The windows were broken.

5. In which borough did Smith serve?
(a) Lower East Side.
(b) Harlem.
(c) South Bronx.
(d) Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Short Answer Questions

1. How was Fireman Nick Riso injured while responding to a call?

2. What did firefighters find at the scene of the fire at the Kelly Street apartments?

3. How does Smith describe his political leanings?

4. How did Smith feel when first approached about writing a memoir of firefighting?

5. Why did Smith insist on working in the South Bronx?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Dennis Smith think firefighters--although regular people--are nevertheless somehow apart from others?

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

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

4. Why do you think Dennis Smith found the act of writing the book as exciting as responding to fire calls?

5. What did the firemen mean by the term "tough shit" during their discussion of the arson fire in Chapter 1?

6. Why was Smith reminded of the sun when he entered the burning room on Forest Avenue in Chapter 5?

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

8. What was Firefighter Jim's reaction to news of the arrests of Vietnam War protesters in Chapter 3?

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

10. Why did Artie think the 20th century should be called the "Great Zap"?

(see the answer keys)

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