On the morning of March 14, 2005, I was awakened with news that smoke was billowing out of the roof, spire, and bell tower of St. Raphael Cathedral in downtown Madison.
Our reporter then, Julianne Nornberg, traveled quickly to the scene of the fire, which had started at 5:31 a.m. Firefighters were on the scene at 5:39 a.m., and they worked to control the fire caused — we found out later — by an arsonist.
Destruction of cathedral
Unfortunately, the fire destroyed the roof of St. Raphael Cathedral, which collapsed into the church. The 150-year-old church was destroyed. A new spire, which had been raised to the top of the cathedral’s spire in 2014, was saved.