#12 - The only effective check on grass and brush fires is

[TootyFrooty]

Hi Lauryn,

We are in a resolve the paradox question, so by definition here we expect and need new information to solve this paradox. Let's start with the paradox itself.

Fact 1: The only effective check on fires is rain

Fact 2: Fires cause less financial damage during periods of severe drought (so little rain) than periods of normal rainfall.

We need to find something to address why the financial damage is less, even though we know rain is the only effective check on the fires. We aren't worried about the causes of fires as in answer choice (D). That wouldn't at all help us to understand why the financial cost is less during a period of drought.

Answer choice (C) on the other hand, does a great job at giving us an explanation. It's true that the only effective check on these fires is rain. But the biggest, baddest (and probably most expensive) sorts of fires occur only when there's something to burn--vegetation. The question does expect that you'll know that periods of drought are likely to times when there is not plentiful vegetation.

Putting the facts together with the stimulus, when we look at answer choice (C) we get something like this: The only effective check on the fires is rain, however, since the most costly fires require vegetation to burn, fires cause less financial damage during periods of severe drought.

Hope that helps!

Can you please explain what the statement "Effective check on fires is rain" means? I'm not sure I quiet grasped it

[Robert Carroll]

TootyFrooty,

"Rain is the only effective check on fires" means "there is only one thing that can effectively counter fires, and that thing is rain."

I found a reference here: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/di ... g-in-check

Robert Carroll