Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for FIRE IN PARADISE … then take off on your own:
1. Talk about the causes of the wild fire, both the immediate and underlying causes.
2. (Follow-up to Question 1) What role did Pacific Gas and Electric play? Is the near-villainy that the authors tend to ascribe to the utility deserved or unfairly placed?
3. Discuss the many individual accounts included in Gee and Anguiano's account. Which stories do you find most horrific or most tragic—and which of them illustrate great courage, even heroism. Consider not only residents, old and young, but first responders, doctors, and nurses, and even the drivers stuck in traffic.
4. Talk about the town's preparedness to avert such a disaster, its evacuation plan and emergency alert system. What happened to a town that seemed to be so well prepared?
5. What do the authors suggest will be the long-term future for northern California and towns like Paradise?
6. Should Paradise be rebuilt?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Fire in Paradise (Gee) - Discussion Questions
Article Index
Page 4 of 4