HELENA BANK - 1944

Photos: helenahistory.org

It was a hellish day in Helena when flames roared through the Montana National Bank building in the bitter cold of Jan. 9, 1944.

Two elderly women residing in a fourth-floor apartment died and their bodies were recovered from the rubble. But others got out. Eight people were injured, including two firefighters.

Residents fled on fire escapes as flames shot out windows. Firefighters brought down trapped people by ladder.

A resident of a fifth-floor apartment "grasped a cable and swung like Tarzan to the roof of the building next door," while a 14-year-old girl and her 4-year-old cousin jumped 25 feet to the top of a shed, according to historian Ellen Baumler, writing in the Independent Record newspaper of June 9, 2013.

"The crowd that gathered on Main Street collectively held its breath as Fire Chief Dick Coe and Captain Joe Munger raced back into the building to search for two elderly residents," Baumler wrote.

"An explosion in the center of the building threw bricks across Edwards Street and sent the upper floors crashing down," she wrote. "The crowd cheered when the firemen emerged unharmed."