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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. According to Sallee and Rumsey, toward the end of their run, how many times did the smoke part in order for them to see the top of the ridge?
(a) Many times.
(b) Four or five times.
(c) Once.
(d) Two or three times.

2. Who was Hal Samsel?
(a) The pilot who dropped the Smokejumpers into Mann Gulch.
(b) The Forest Ranger responsible for guided tours of the gulch.
(c) The Loft foreman and son of a Forest Ranger.
(d) The spotter on the plane that dropped the Smokejumpers into the gulch.

3. What was one of many reasons Maclean thought Henry Thol, Sr. should be proud of his son?
(a) His son was not alone when he died.
(b) His son died while protecting another man.
(c) His son was the closest man to the top of the ridge.
(d) His son carried a picture of his family with him.

4. What did Maclean's wife die from?
(a) Brain cancer.
(b) Stomach cancer.
(c) Esophagal cancer.
(d) Lung cancer.

5. What did Maclean say was evidence of the strength of the fire when it hit the Smokejumpers on the ridge?
(a) It singed the hair on their heads.
(b) It blew the clothes off of their bodies.
(c) It blew the watches from their wrists.
(d) It melted the soles of their shoes.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Maclean explain the change in the world after compassionately studying the fire at Mann Gulch?

2. What did Mike Mansfield accomplish for the families of the fallen Smokejumpers?

3. How many Smokejumpers have died from fire since the Mann Gulch fire?

4. To what does a woodsman look for both the questions and their answers?

5. What is a gofer match?

Short Essay Questions

1. When did Maclean begin research on the Mann Gulch fire? What where his first steps?

2. Why did both parents and the Forest Service hope for silence after the court judgments concerning suits filed against the Forest Service?

3. What did the author mean when he spoke of bi-visual and tri-visual?

4. Maclean believed that the Smokejumpers did not see their lives in review as they died. What did he believe their final thoughts to be? How was he able to confirm his idea?

5. Who was Henry Thol, Sr.? What was his role in the Mann Gulch fire?

6. What object do Sallee and Rumsey discover at the site of a fallen comrade? Why was this discovery important?

7. How did the author describe the final moments of the men's lives before the fire overtook them? What elements of nature were prominent in their lives just before their deaths? How did they actually die?

8. How did the perspective shift as the author continued his discussion of the fire from looking at the mushroom cloud in the sky? What did he hope to learn by changing perspective?

9. Whom did Maclean find at the Hoerner Waldorf-Champion paper mill? What information did this person give Maclean to move him along in his search for Sallee and Rumsey?

10. As Maclean began his comparison of the Smokejumpers' run to the top of the ridge to a race run on a track, how did he compare the race run by the Smokejumpers and that of the athlete on a track?

(see the answer keys)

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