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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. How did the firefighter die in the previous incident mentioned in Chapter 2?

2. From which service area did Fireman Vinny Royce switch to join Engine Co. 82?

3. How does Smith describe his political leanings?

4. Where on his body did Fireman Bill Kelsey get burned while battling the Charlotte Street blaze?

5. How did Smith remember details for the book while working full-time?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. How was Firefighter Mike Carr killed?

7. What did the South Bronx neighbors do in an attempt to stop malicious false alarms from the Hoe Avenue alarm box and was it effective?

8. 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?

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

10. Describe Fireman Jim Gintel's personality.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Smith was extremely busy with work and family, but managed to carve out time to take daily notes so that he could write a book. In what ways do you think the act of writing this memoir helped Smith process the horrible scenes he frequently witnessed? Do you think that writing about his painful experiences gave him a way of working out his feelings about them? Could the book be considered a form of therapy?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Fire departments in the United States are traditionally overwhelmingly white--Smith himself came from an Irish background and many of his fellow firemen are Irish or Italian. How did that situation arise? Does the tradition of family members following one another into the field explain it? In what ways have fire departments attempted to diversify in recent years, and have those efforts been successful? Are there specific ways you can think of that would help diversify fire departments?

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