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

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

3. Which two companies were prohibited from responding to the same fire under the new plan?
(a) 82 and 85.
(b) 82 and 90.
(c) 85 and 87.
(d) 82 and 92.

4. What did the kids across the street from the Union Avenue fire do when the firefighters arrived?
(a) They chanted and yelled insults.
(b) They asked the firefighters to give them a ride.
(c) They sang.
(d) They cheered.

5. Which magazine asked Smith to write about firefighters?
(a) Newsweek.
(b) Life.
(c) True.
(d) Time.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Smith consider the most admirable characteristic of firefighters?

2. What was the name of the strong fireman who single-handedly replaced the hose at the end of Chapter 5?

3. How did Smith believe the city was treated by the state?

4. How did the firefighters save the life of the overdose victim on Hoe Avenue?

5. What orders did the doctors give Smith after his injury from the Prospect Avenue fire?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain why the landlord of the Intervale Avenue apartment building wanted the place torched.

2. Why do firemen have to sometimes crawl on their bellies while in a burning building?

3. Describe Fireman Jim Gintel's personality.

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

5. Describe how fireman Jim Stack fought the apartment fire at 1284 Fox in Chapter 3.

6. What did Dennis Smith observe about the attitude of the driver who hit the young boy and was then beaten by the crowd in Chapter 2?

7. What did the firemen do when they got the second teenager out of the Intervale Avenue apartment building, which was torched in the arson attack in Chapter 1?

8. Why does Smith say city workers were fleeing cities to live in the suburbs?

9. Why did the firemen tease Billy Valenzio about his strength?

10. What is Smith's view of the political leaders of New York City?

(see the answer keys)

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