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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which firefighter died shortly before the time Chapter 2 takes place?

2. What were the three young men doing in the empty Kelly Street apartment building?

3. How were the men rescued during the factory fire?

4. What did Fireman Big Van of Ladder 42 drink once he quit drinking beer?

5. How long did Smith take off to recover from the throat damage he sustained during the Prospect Avenue fire in Chapter 3?

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 was Dennis Smith's main concern about writing about his fellow firefighters?

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. Describe Fireman Jim Gintel's personality.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The firefighters of Engine Co. 82 made several efforts to connect with the neighborhood children, for example, through ice cream parties. Do these sorts of community outreach projects ultimately help the community and if so, how? How can seeing authority figures "at ease" and off the job help children see them as non-threatening? Smith at one point expresses dismay that firefighters willing to to crawl through a fire to rescue one black child will share ice cream with 100 black children. In what ways do these community outreach projects help firefighters themselves? Do they normally get the chance to see people at their best? Can getting to know the neighbors outside of emergency calls help firefighters develop a deeper and more satisfying relationship with their community?

Essay Topic 2

Why was Smith so affected by the interview with the student, Cynthia? Why did his encounter with her leave him feeling both heartened and concerned? Did he ultimately feel uplifted or overwhelmed by what she represented?

Essay Topic 3

Smith discusses dropping out of school because he wanted to start making money and states that he found his own way to survive. In retrospect, was his decision to drop out a good, bad, or neutral one? What could he have more easily accomplished had he earned his diploma? Are there things that he learned while working that he could not have learned in school?Could he have put those things off until after school?

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