PrepTest 147, Section 3, Question 2
In the last half-century, firefighters in North America(454 more words not shown)
By " maintenance burns "(12 more words not shown)
- Athe low-intensity fires(6 more words not shown)
- Bfires that reduce(6 more words not shown)
- Cthe types of(12 more words not shown)
- Da type of(11 more words not shown)
- Enaturally or intentionally(10 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
First reduce the accumulated fuel; then keep it from building up again. That second step is maintenance. The final paragraph says these burns will occur every fifteen to twenty years, so we're looking for periodic fires that remove fuel.
What we’re looking for
The idea is like getting regular haircuts after cutting back badly overgrown hair: the follow-up keeps the original problem from returning.
Working the answers
- A
Ancient fires illustrate the natural pattern the proposal aims to recreate. But “maintenance burns” refers to fires in the proposed management approach, not those historical fires themselves.
- B
The smaller burns are supposed to leave mature trees alive. Removing the mature trees is not the maintenance described here.
- C
Many forests today have accumulated fuel and are vulnerable to destructive crown fires. Those are the fires the proposal aims to make less likely and less damaging, not the planned maintenance burns.
- D
Fifty years describes how long some modern forests have gone without fire. Maintenance burns would occur at fifteen- to twenty-year intervals.
- ECorrect
The preceding sentences include both intentionally set fires and lightning-caused fires allowed to burn under suitable conditions. Their job is to reduce fuel, and the maintenance burns continue that work periodically.
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