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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. What happened to several firefighters (including Smith) fighting a blaze at a two-story factory building?

2. What happened when two of the fire trucks collided while responding to a call in Chapter 4?

3. What orders did the doctors give Smith after his injury from the Prospect Avenue fire?

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

5. How did Smith view the Kelly Street fire after the culprit was found?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did the firemen mean by the term "tough shit" during their discussion of the arson fire in Chapter 1?

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

3. Why did some of the men defend Chief Marks despite the fact that he was known for yelling at the firefighters?

4. Why does Dennis Smith think firefighters--although regular people--are nevertheless somehow apart from others?

5. How was Firefighter Mike Carr killed?

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

7. In reflecting on the boys who chanted hate-filled slogans at the firefighters in Chapter 4, Smith reflects that "people don't hate other people." What does he mean by that?

8. During a raging fire, Smith imagines neighbors serving coffee and food to the firefighters. Why does he think this is an impossibility in New York City?

9. How did the other firefighters look at Artie, the firefighter with the beard and degree in sociology?

10. Describe how fireman Jim Stack fought the apartment fire at 1284 Fox in Chapter 3.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Firefighters come across as three-dimensional human beings in this book--we see their bravery, their humanity, their occasional pettiness, and their frustrations and prejudices. In what ways has reading this book changed or not changed your view of firefighters? Before reading the book, did you have a particular image of firemen? Was that image reinforced or shattered? Do you have more respect or understanding of them now?

Essay Topic 3

Smith discusses dropping out of school because he wanted to start making money and states that he found his own way to survive. In retrospect, was his decision to drop out a good, bad, or neutral one? What could he have more easily accomplished had he earned his diploma? Are there things that he learned while working that he could not have learned in school?Could he have put those things off until after school?

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