MADISON, Wis. --
Despite controversy over the future of St. Raphael's Cathedral, the current structure is still a benefit to the city.
Task force two, the Madison Fire Department's heavy technical rescue team, is taking advantage of this invaluable experience.
Madison firefighter Todd Shortreed was one of the first responders when St. Raphael's was engulfed by flames in March 2005.
"We did everything we could at that point," said Shortreed. "I never thought that we'd be here working on training session and so this is actually a unique opportunity to get a little something more out of this building."
This time firefighters are training for other potential disasters.
Langraf Construction and the diocese of Madison are allowing the fire department to use the cathedral for two weeks before deconstruction. The composition of the cathedral - - mason and large beams - - makes this experience especially unique, WISC-TV reported.
"We actually have an unstable structure that we have to stabilize before we can go any further and that's things that we really can't simulate too well without the actual occurrence," said Steven Davis.
By simulating real life rescues and safety precautions, the fire department hopes to be better prepared for the future.
Said Davis, "We've never done anything like this in the city before. Its actual real life in a controlled environment."
The department has even brought in a structural engineer to guide their safety efforts.
"Everyday for the last 12 years of my life all I've been doing is trying to make buildings stand up and in this situation I have been asked by the fire department to make sure the building falls down," said Dan Widorski.
The task provides an invaluable experience.
"This is kind of a once in a lifetime thing for us," said Davis.
Said Shortreed, "I think everybody wishes that you could have more training on stuff like this because you never know when a situation like this could happen again.
"Actually some good is coming from that devastating fire in that we get to better ourselves and better our abilities," said Shortreed.
More than 80 firefighters will finish training in the cathedral this week.
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