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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 is a gofer match?
(a) A stick match pulled from a matchbox.
(b) A cigarette lighter.
(c) A small torch made by lighting rolled paper.
(d) A paper match pulled from a matchbook.

2. In Maclean's mind, what did the Ponderosa pines look like during the fire?
(a) Giant sign posts for the rescuers.
(b) Giant traffic signs in the middle of fire whirl traffic.
(c) Giant candles burning for the dead.
(d) Giant trees standing firm against the match of fire.

3. Who was the chief forester in Washington D.C. at the time of the Mann Gulch fire?
(a) Simon G. Warren.
(b) Lyle F. Watts.
(c) Wag Dodge.
(d) Leon F. Wogan.

4. When did Wag Dodge die?
(a) 1965.
(b) 1955.
(c) 1945.
(d) 1975.

5. What did Sallee and Rumsey say as they went up the last hillside?
(a) "My God, do not let me die this way!"
(b) "My God, why did this happen to me?"
(c) "My God, how could you do this to me?"
(d) "My God, please let me live!"

Short Answer Questions

1. What does "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" mean?

2. What year is generally seen as the beginning of modern scientific study of fire behavior?

3. Who did the author reference when he compared ghosts and tragic heroes?

4. What was one of many reasons Maclean thought Henry Thol, Sr. should be proud of his son?

5. After Smokejumpers are dropped on a fire, what time do they say the fire will be put out?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Maclean believe has become the symbol of fear in the late twentieth century? What artist does he site as support for this claim?

2. What two emotions governed the analysis of the tragedy at Mann Gulch? How did Maclean describe the first emotion among the men in Mann Gulch?

3. 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?

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

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

6. How did Maclean explain the picture of a big fire? What was it made up of in his opinion?

7. 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?

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

9. What happened to the men when they left the foreman, Dodge, at the site of the escape fire? What name did the author give to the point at which the men left? From what perspective did the author tell the story of their assent?

10. To what did the author compare the cloud of smoke atop the Mann Gulch fire when the blowup rose out of the gulch?

(see the answer keys)

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