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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. When did the author first notice the Mann Gulch fire?
(a) June, 1949.
(b) August, 1949.
(c) July, 1949.
(d) August, 1948.

2. What did Harry Gisborne witness in 1929?
(a) A crown fire.
(b) A blowup.
(c) A pitch fire.
(d) A drift fire.

3. How many men fought the Mann Gulch fire?
(a) 450.
(b) 750.
(c) 900.
(d) 300.

4. What did Gisborne want to do on Mann Gulch?
(a) Examine the area around the river.
(b) Test a theory of fire whirls.
(c) See the markers of the lost men.
(d) See it from a firefighter's point of view.

5. What did the Forest Service learn from the fires in 1910?
(a) Firefighters should attack a fire by walking in front of it.
(b) Smokejumpers need to jump behind a fire.
(c) Get firefighters on the ground as soon as possible.
(d) Smokejumpers are not the most efficient way to get men to a fire.

Short Answer Questions

1. What quality of Dodge's led to his escape from death by the fire?

2. What kind of boots was the author wearing while running in the Fish Creek fire?

3. When was the U.S. Forest Service established?

4. What did the first Smokejumpers call the fires into which they jumped?

5. What was the temperature in Helena when the Smokejumpers landed in Mann Gulch?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who invented the first parachutes? What were parachutes and their cords made of then? What material were they made of in 1949 when the Smokejumpers landed on Mann Gulch? Why?

2. Why did Dodge set a fire in front of the fire raging toward himself and his men on Mann Gulch? What was he trying to accomplish? Why did his men not follow his orders?

3. Who was Robert Jansson? What was his part in the Mann Gulch fire?

4. Where was the big fire the author had fought when he was in the Forest Service? How did the people living in the area support themselves and their families?

5. What was the profile of a smokejumper in the 1940s?

6. To what did Maclean compare the smokejumper's jump from the plane? Why?

7. Why did the author finally decide he needed to see the Mann Gulch fire the summer he was staying in his cabin at Seely Lake?

8. How did the firefighters at the Forest Service think the fire would spread? Why did they think the fire starters had the same idea?

9. What important question did the author ask Mrs. Brown after his experience with the fire at Fish Creek? What was her answer?

10. Who was Harry T. Gisborne? What was his contribution to the history of firefighting, and understanding the Mann Gulch fire in particular?

(see the answer keys)

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