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1 | |
Fire __________________. |
| | A) | has played a crucial role in human evolution |
| | B) | properly used is an important agricultural tool that predates the plow |
| | C) | is one of man's earliest offensive weapons |
| | D) | helped shape the human diet |
| | E) | all of the above |
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2 | |
Lightning generated about _____% of all wildfires in the United States in 2000. |
| | A) | 2 |
| | B) | 15 |
| | C) | 30 |
| | D) | 50 |
| | E) | 90 |
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3 | |
Heat transfer mechanisms associated with a burning log include _________________. |
| | A) | conduction |
| | B) | convection |
| | C) | diffusion |
| | D) | radiation |
| | E) | all of the above |
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4 | |
Which chemical reaction best represents the fire equation? |
| | A) | 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + solar radiation ---> C6H12O6 + 6 O2 |
| | B) | C6H12O6 + 6 O2 ----> 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + released heat |
| | C) | Ca2++ + CO32- ----> CaCO3 |
| | D) | 2 SO2 + O2 ---> 2 SO4 |
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5 | |
The wet-dry Mediterranean climate of California sets up prodigious fires because ______________. |
| | A) | large numbers of people live there |
| | B) | it is the world's leading lightning strike area |
| | C) | it is closer to the equator and thus hotter and drier than other portions of the U.S. |
| | D) | its cold wet winters and hot dry summers provide evolutionary pressure that favors plants that require fire as part of their life cycle |
| | E) | all of the above |
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6 | |
The process whereby wood degrades thermally, resulting in production of flammable hydrocarbons, is referred to as ________________. |
| | A) | pyrolysis |
| | B) | diffusion |
| | C) | katabatic |
| | D) | paralysis |
| | E) | radiation |
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7 | |
The essential ingredients in any fire include _________________. |
| | A) | fuel source |
| | B) | ignition (heat) |
| | C) | oxygen |
| | D) | water |
| | E) | A, B, and C |
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8 | |
The manner and rate at which fire spreads is a function of _______________. |
| | A) | topography |
| | B) | wind direction and velocity |
| | C) | fuel source |
| | D) | weather conditions |
| | E) | all of the above |
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9 | |
The chief role of drought in wildfires is _______________. |
| | A) | drying out the fuel source |
| | B) | making environmental conditions inhospitable for firefighters |
| | C) | igniting the fire |
| | D) | forcing the human population to withdraw from the area |
| | E) | none of the above. Provide your own best answer _______________. |
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10 | |
As evidenced in the Peshtigo, Wisconsin, fire of 1871, local wildfires were influenced by _____________. |
| | A) | the political climate |
| | B) | regional weather patterns |
| | C) | drought |
| | D) | mineral exploitation (i.e., mining) |
| | E) | answers B and C |
| | F) | answers B, C, and D |
| | G) | answers A, B, C, and D |
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11 | |
The chaparral plants of southern California demonstrate the important role that fire plays in _________________. |
| | A) | plant destruction |
| | B) | the growth cycle, from germination to maturity |
| | C) | redistributing plants |
| | D) | ecoterroism |
| | E) | all of the above |
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12 | |
In the U.S., the predominant regional weather pattern associated with foehn winds (e.g., Chinook or Santa Ana) involves ___________________. |
| | A) | high-pressure cell situated over the Great Basin |
| | B) | El Niño |
| | C) | Pacific High |
| | D) | Aleutian Low |
| | E) | Intertropical Convergence Zone |
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13 | |
Which of the following might help prevent home fires? |
| | A) | Building on a slope. |
| | B) | Building with stone or some other inflammable material. |
| | C) | Clearing foliage away from the home. |
| | D) | Using wood shingles. |
| | E) | answers B and C |
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14 | |
The disparity between number of wildfires in chaparral of Baja California, Mexico and southern California is due in part to ____________________. |
| | A) | difference in environmental management |
| | B) | proliferation of older, less fire-resistant, plants in southern California |
| | C) | multigenerational plants in Baja California with fire-resistant young plants interspersed among older plants |
| | D) | the absence of Santa Ana winds in Mexico |
| | E) | answers A, B, and C |
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15 | |
Prescribed fires are designed to control ____________________. |
| | A) | all forest fires |
| | B) | forest fires on private lands |
| | C) | fires in remote areas |
| | D) | build-up of underbrush that frequently fuels wildfires |
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16 | |
The catastrophic nature of the 1988 wildfire in Yellowstone National Park was in part the result of ____________________. |
| | A) | U.S. Forest Service's 1970's-era change in policy to allow natural wildfires to burn |
| | B) | U.S. Forest Service's pre-1970's policy of fighting all fires, which forced trees to overpopulate and dead vegetation to accumulate |
| | C) | El Niño - Southern Oscillation conditions in the South Atlantic |
| | D) | abundant chaparral vegetation |
| | E) | an unusually high concentration of tourists that summer |
| | F) | A and B |
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17 | |
The Australian bushfires of the 1980's, among the largest wildfires ever, were the result of ___________________. |
| | A) | a prescribed burn |
| | B) | Patrick O'Leary's antisocial cow |
| | C) | the complex interplay between drought, El Niño, and foehn winds |
| | D) | exponential population growth |
| | E) | ecological efforts to control non-indigenous animals (i.e., rabbit) |
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18 | |
In terms of human casualties from fire, the single-most dangerous structure in the U.S. is the ____________________. |
| | A) | 15- to 30-story skyscraper |
| | B) | family home |
| | C) | elementary school |
| | D) | multistory apartment building |
| | E) | your car |
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19 | |
Foehn winds are best described as ____________________. |
| | A) | sea breezes |
| | B) | hot, dry winds that move downslope |
| | C) | land breezes |
| | D) | wet, ground-hugging clouds |
| | E) | winds accompanying pyroclastic flows |
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20 | |
A firestorm refers to _____________________. |
| | A) | a thunderstorm that generates an unusually high number of lightning strikes |
| | B) | a swarm of fireflies descending on a summer party |
| | C) | an unusually hot and voracious wildfire often accompanied by fire tornadoes |
| | D) | a wildfire confined to the canopy of a hardwood forest |
| | E) | a swarm of wildfires concentrated in a small area |
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21 | |
As U.S. Forest Service wildfire policy adapts to problems of combating fires that impinge on human populations, a potential change from 1980-90s "let it burn" may be towards ____________________. |
| | A) | careful monitoring of wildfires with frequent intervention |
| | B) | continuing to let all wildfires burn |
| | C) | stamping out all wildfires |
| | D) | stamping out all wildfires proximal to human structures |
| | E) | giving up and going home |
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22 | |
The term duff refers to __________________. |
| | A) | U.S. Geological Survey volcanologist, Wendall Duffield |
| | B) | A small easily controlled fire |
| | C) | A thick bed of pine needles and organic debris that frequently hosts smoldering fires |
| | D) | A fire started by an arsonist |
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23 | |
Conditions of southern California that make it ripe for wildfires include _________________. |
| | A) | chaparral ecology |
| | B) | Mediterranean wet-dry climate |
| | C) | Santa Ana winds |
| | D) | frequent drought |
| | E) | all of the above |
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24 | |
The use of prescribed fires recently came under attack following ________________. |
| | A) | the Yellowstone wildfire of 1988 |
| | B) | the out-of-control burn outside Los Alamos in May of 2000 |
| | C) | a small fire that threatened the West Wing of the White House |
| | D) | a U.S. Senate report indicating low cost to benefit ratio |
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