Fire Escape Collapse

‘Fire Escape Collapse’ July 22, 1975 Diana Bryant and Tiare Jones falling from a fire escape in Boston, Massachusetts

 

 

On July 22, 1975 a fire raged in one of the apartment buildings on Marlborough Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Nineteen-year old Diana Bryant and her two-year-old goddaughter, Tiare Jones were trapped and awaiting rescue on a fire escape.

One firefighter, Robert O’Neil, was shielding Bryant and Jones from the flames as a ladder approached, ready to lower them to safety. O’Neil would be the first to step onto the ladder and instructed Diana Bryant to pass Tiare Jones to him once he was in place. Robert O’Neil had just begun to pull himself onto the ladder when the fire escape collapsed, taking Diana and Tiare down along with it.

 Diana Bryant died from her injuries but Tiare, who had fallen on Diana’a body survived the fall. ‘Fire Escape Collapse’ is one in a series of photos taken by Stanley Forman, photographer for the Boston Herald, at the scene of the fire. When the photo was originally released in his publication there was an overwhelmingly hostile reaction from the public. As the pictures quickly spread around the world, media was accused of pandering to sensationalism and invading Diana Bryant’s privacy. Despite the controversy surrounding the photo, the series by Stanley Forman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1976 and additionally, was named The World Press Photo of The Year. It also prompted the city of Boston, as well as many other cities across the United States, to revise laws on fire escape safety. Today, the photo is still used by fire safety groups to promote their efforts. In 2005, photographer Stanley Forman gave his account of the tragic events he witnessed on that day in an interview with BBC:
“It was 22 July 1975. I was about to leave the offices of the Boston Herald for the day. A call came in about a fire in one of the city’s older sections of Victorian row houses. I rushed to the house and followed one of the engines to the fire. I ran to the back of the building, because on the way there they kept yelling for a ladder truck because there were people trapped in the building on the fire escape.
I ran to the back of the building and when I looked up there was a woman and a child on the fire escape and they were basically leaning at the furthest point from the building because of the heat of the fire behind them. In the meantime, a firefighter called Bob [Robert] O’Neil had climbed on to the front of the building on the roof and saw the pair on the fire escape. He lowered himself on to the fire escape to rescue them.
I took a position where I could photograph what I thought was an impending routine rescue. The ladder went up to pick them up – they were about 50ft (15m) up. Mr O’Neill had just told Diana Bryant that he was going to step onto the ladder and asked her to hand the baby to him. Mr O’Neil was reaching out for the ladder when suddenly the fire escape gave way.

I was shooting pictures as they were falling – then I turned away. It dawned on me what was happening and I didn’t want to see them hit the ground. I can still remember turning around and shaking.
It transpired that I wouldn’t have seen them hit the ground as they fell behind a fence where the bins were. When I did turn around I didn’t see them but I saw the firefighter still clinging onto the ladder with one arm, like a monkey, with all his gear. He hoisted himself back up the fire escape to safety. They say the woman broke the child’s fall. The woman died later that night.

I was shooting pictures as they were falling – then I turned away. It dawned on me what was happening and I didn’t want to see them hit the ground. I can still remember turning around and shaking.
It transpired that I wouldn’t have seen them hit the ground as they fell behind a fence where the bins were. When I did turn around I didn’t see them but I saw the firefighter still clinging onto the ladder with one arm, like a monkey, with all his gear. He hoisted himself back up the fire escape to safety.

Any time there are stories about fire safety issues or issues such as those people went through with the hurricane in New Orleans, it wakes people up

They say the woman broke the child’s fall. The woman died later that night.
At the time, I didn’t know that the picture was going to be so big or have such an impact. When I started looking at the negatives I was looking at the rescue picture, where they were holding on to each other. I didn’t even look at the next frame, I didn’t know exactly what I’d got. I knew I had shot them coming down, I didn’t realise how dramatic it was until I had developed the film.The picture was first published in the Boston Herald and then picked up and published in newspapers all over the world. There was much debate about showing such a horrific picture.
I was never bothered by the controversy. When you think about it, I don’t think it was that horrific. The woman at the time was not deceased; we didn’t show a dead person on the front page. She did die, which is a horrible thing. I didn’t think it was that bad, but then I am the photographer, so I’m biased.
Any time there are stories about fire safety issues or issues such as those people went through with the hurricane in New Orleans, it wakes people up.
My photograph prompted people to go out and check their fire escapes and ushered in a law that meant that the owner of the property is responsible for fire-escape safety. It was also used in many fire-safety pamphlets for many years.
Thirty years later it’s nice to know that I did the right thing. I haven’t seen anything like it since. I’ve seen pictures that I wish I’d made but I haven’t seen anything as dramatic as that, and I’ve seen some pretty good pictures.When you say a picture tells a thousand words, this one certainly told 10,000.”

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UPDATE: ‘Victims of Terror’, Past-Life Identity of Reincarnated Child Who Remembers Violent Death on 9/11

After writing a previous article entitled, “Victims of Terror”, I became slightly obsessed with the story of Cade, a boy who believes he is the reincarnation of a 9/11 victim. For several weeks, I couldn’t bring myself to focus on anything other than discovering the identity of the man Cade believes he was in his past life. From my research for the previous article, I knew:
-He was a businessman
-He could see the Statue of Liberty from his office window in the World Trade Center
-He either jumped or fell and saw his “brains come out of his head” before being covered by rubble
After searching the deep, dark recesses of the World Wide Web, I was able to find a few message boards Cade’s mother had gone on in hopes of discovering her son’s identity in his past life as well. Through this I learned additional information to aid in my search:
-The explosion occurred above him
-The ceiling on his floor collapsed, blocking the stairwell
-His parents were “abusive drunks” and he hated them
-He got married very young
-He was from New York State, and moved to New York City
-He lived in an apartment or hotel
-He rode a bike or motorcycle to work
-He had been in the armed forces
-He had loved taking ferry rides to the Statue of Liberty as a young man
-He got a dog when he was 25
-His remains are still at the former site of the World Trade Center
Unfortunately, this could describe hundreds of the World Trade Center employees killed in the attacks. Cade did, however, remember one extremely useful piece of information:
-His name was Robert
-His middle initial was ‘E’, for Elliot or Elion, he believes
-His last name, he thinks, might have been ‘Pattison’
There was, indeed, a man who worked and died in the World Trade Center named Robert E. Pattison. Although the ‘E’ stands for Edward, not Elliot or Elion, his parents are convinced this must be the man Cade was in his last life.
Robert E. Pattison was 40 years old when he was killed on September 11, 2001. He was employed by WCBS as a maintenance transmitter supervisor and tended to the transmitters on both the World Trade Center’s North Tower and the Empire State Building. Although most of Robert’s work was done on the 110th floor, on the day of the attack, it is believed Robert Pattison was on the roof of the North Tower. This would mean that unless he chose to jump from the roof sometime after the first plane hit, he would have remained there for over an hour until the North Tower came crashing down. He was one of six children born to a family in Woburn, Massachusetts and it has been said by his siblings that he was a bit of a trouble maker. After joining the air force, he began to straighten his life up. He lived in Boston for several years before moving to New York City, and although no wife is mentioned in his obituaries, through my research I have discovered he may at one point have been married to a woman named Maryellen who he later divorced. While there is not much information to be found about the life of Robert Edward Pattison (due in part to the overshadowing of information on actor Robert Pattison who plays Edward in the Twilight movies), you may have noticed that much of the information that is known regarding Robert’s life does not quite correlate with Cade’s memories of his former life. In fact, aside from the name, many of the memories contradict what Cade has told his parents. While I do not discount this boy’s story, I do discount the accuracy of some of his memories.
Most of us have experienced, at one time or another, a very long and detailed dream which we want to retell. As soon as you wake up, the dream is fresh in your mind and you remember it perfectly only to find later, when you try to tell someone about this crazy dream you had, you’ve forgotten pieces, have forgotten the order in which things occurred, and even forgotten or mixed up important details. “We were somewhere else- I don’t remember where but I think it was a corn field or something, maybe in Illinois or Ohio and I was a farmer… No wait, you were the farmer- anyway, it doesn’t matter- one of us was a farmer. We were in the field, then all of a sudden a crop circle just appeared… No, actually there was a bright light first. Oh no, that was after… Anyway, the space ship was full of people from my office. I don’t remember who all was there, but I remember they were from my office. I think my boss was there… Uhg I forgot what even happened in the dream that made me want to tell you about it. Nevermind.” Now imagine this dream lasted for 20, 40, 60 years or more and you waited five to ten years to tell anyone about it. It would be incredible if you remembered that dream at all, as it is incredible any children are able to recall past life memories at all. We must assume that often times, as in dreams, these children get details mixed up and begin to forget, especially as they get older.
In the case of Cade, while he seemed quite certain his name was ‘Robert’, he was a bit unsure about his middle and last name. ‘Pattison’ may have seemed familiar to him if he had ever heard the name of the actor ‘Robert Pattison’, which is quite likely due to his celebrity status, or he could have known Robert E. Pattison from having simply worked in the same building together, using the same elevator everyday. Cade was also quite insistent that he was born in New York state, whereas this Robert E. Pattison was born and raised in Massachusetts. Although Mr. Pattison was a supervisor, he was an electrician, not a ‘businessman’. If he was on the roof of the building on September 11th when the first plane hit the North Tower, he wouldn’t have been in his office, as Cade recalls and there would have been no ceiling above him to fall in and block him from escape. Even if Robert had not been on the roof that day, as is believed, and was instead on the 110th floor, Cade recalls an explosion somewhere above him. The plane which struck the North Tower ripped a hole spanning from the 93rd to the 98th floor, which suggests he was on or below the 92nd floor. Cade describes in graphic detail witnessing his “brains come out of his head” when he hit the ground. If Robert E. Pattison remained on the roof of One World Trade in hopes of a helicopter rescue and went down with the building as is his assumed fate, he wouldn’t have had the ability to see his “brains come out of his head”, as he left his body because he would have been entirely enveloped by the rubble in the fall. Not to mention, Cade requested his mother begin calling him ‘Robert’ because he didn’t like the name ‘Cade’ when in fact, Mr. Pattison hated being called ‘Robert’ and in life had always gone by ‘Bob’.

I continued my search for the real ‘Robert’ Cade claimed to be in his last life. I individually researched over one hundred men named ‘Robert’ who had died in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centers, slowly eliminating them based on careers, family history and anything other descriptors I could go off of. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no ‘Robert’ who fit the description Cade had given. Each and everyone had some piece of major information that was opposite of what Cade had recalled. Once again, I do not discredit this young man’s story but unfortunately for Cade, it has proven impossible to determine who he had been in his previous life. Often times, memories of dying in past lives relived through dreams can be just as traumatic as experiencing death everyday. Unless the individual is able to have some form of closure, they may be haunted and hindered by their past life memories in the current life.   Hopefully, as time goes on and people become more accepting of the possibility of reincarnation, there will be more information and resources made available to people who are experiencing past life memories.

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