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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. What are the natural components of a blowup?
(a) Fire, clouds, and winds.
(b) Fire, canyons, and dry air.
(c) Fire, oxygen, and wood.
(d) Fire, smoke, and men.

2. Who did Jansson, Sallee, and Roos find alive on the other side of the ridge from the other survivors?
(a) Thol.
(b) Sylvia.
(c) Daily.
(d) Hellman.

3. How did Jansson identify Harrison's body?
(a) By his tattoo.
(b) By the shovel laying next to him with his initials carved in it.
(c) By the Catholic medallion around his neck.
(d) By his pinkie ring.

4. What important piece of equipment was broken in the parachute landing at Mann Gulch?
(a) The first aid kit.
(b) The food rations.
(c) The radio.
(d) The water barrel.

5. What is a Pulaski?
(a) Half-ax and half-hoe.
(b) Half-hoe and half-shovel.
(c) Half-shovel and half-ax.
(d) Half-ax and half-spade.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was the first man to begin tagging the bodies laying along the hill at Mann Gulch?

2. How did Dodge die five years after the fire?

3. What did the Fish Creek fire sound like as the author looked for an escape?

4. What is a crown fire?

5. Who was destroying the food supply for the abundant animal population in the area?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is a crown fire? How does it become ignited? What does it sound like in the forest? What elements are necessary to create a crown fire?

2. What are the roles of the foreman and the second-in-command in a jump team of firefighters? What is each man responsible for during the approach to the fire?

3. When the author returned to the spot in which he had stood when the fire jumped the trail, what did he realize about himself? What did he realize about the fire?

4. 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?

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

6. What did the ghost finally ask the author? What happened when the author answered the question? How did he react?

7. Where was the author when the fire spread to the side hill trail, the firefighters' second line of defense? What important decision did he make right as he saw the fire jump from one side of the trail to the other?

8. What were the topographical differences in the north and the south sides of the mountains separated by Mann Gulch? What did these conditions have to do with the fire?

9. When was the fire at Mann Gulch? Where was the author at the time of the fire? When the author arrived in the small town at Seely Lake, how did he learn of the fire at Mann Gulch? What did he learn about the death of the smokejumpers who were sent to fight the fire?

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

(see the answer keys)

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