MOMENT OF IMPACT

On July 22, 1975, Stanley J. Forman was working in the newsroom of the Boston Herald American newspaper when a police scanner picked up an emergency: "Fire on Marlborough Street!" Forman rushed to the scene, where multiple fire crews were battling an intense blaze. There was a distress call for a ladder team to the rear of the building to help a stranded woman and child. Forman followed.

Climbing atop the fire truck for a better view, Forman instinctively began covering the events before him. As firemen on the scene focused on their work, Forman's attention was directed to a young woman, Diana Bryant, and a very young girl, Tiare Jones. Both were seeking help from fireman, Bob O'Neil, located on the roof directly above them. O'Neil moved to the fire escape and motioned for the truck's ladder to be brought to them. The flames came closer and closer to the fire escape as Forman continued to shoot.

Then, at the very instant the ladder reached the trio, the fire escape gave way. O'Neil clung to the ladder, but Bryant and Jones fell helplessly. Forman snapped a last picture before turning away, knowing the bodies were falling to the ground. Diana Bryant was pronounced dead at the scene. The young girl lived. Despite a heroic effort, O'Neil knew he had been just seconds away from saving the lives of both. Forman's work captured a vivid scene where mere seconds had meant life or death.

Photo coverage from the tragic event garnered Stanley Forman a Pulitzer Prize. But more important, his work paved the way for Boston and other states to mandate tougher fire safety codes.

Stanley J. Forman is an accomplished photographer with more than four decades dedicated to his craft. His career is marked by work for media throughout the Greater Boston area, filing for the print dailies, weeklies and wire services. His 1976 Pulitzer Award for The Boston Fire was the first of three; Forman also won the award in 1977 for Spot News Photography, for documenting a youth using the flag as a lance during street disorders, and in 1978, Forman was part of the Boston Herald American staff which won the Pulitzer for Feature Photography of that year's blizzard.

On winning the first of his Pulitzer Prizes, Forman is pragmatic in knowing that his work resulted in tougher fire codes. "I daydream about making pictures that have the impact that those pictures had," he says. Forman currently makes his home in North Falmouth, MA.