Florida? Who Knew?
ONE OF THE OLDEST TREES IN THE WORLD, a 3,500 yr.-old bald cypress located in Seminole County, Florida, burned down Monday. The National Landmark long known as The Senator was discovered burning in the morning and initial speculation held that a set brush fire did it in.
WKMP image
But after it collapsed this afternoon a chief forestry fire investigator could look inside the trunk and he immediately ruled out the arson theory. "The thought now is that the fire was due to a lighting strike about two weeks ago," said Steve Wright, a spokesman for the Seminole County Fire Rescue. "We think it was smoldering inside the tree and we only saw the blaze today, when it reached the top."
A visitor to the state park where the tree is located spotted the fire and called the FD shortly before 6 am. The expanded dispatch brought tankers while the firefighters hand-laid over 800 ft. of lines to the tree. At 7:45 am a 20-ft. section fell off the top and 45 minutes later more of the trunk collapsed.
Only a smoldering stump remains after the last section of
the trunk collapsed this morning. (Orlando Sentinel photo)
The tree once stood about 165 ft. high, but a 1925 hurricane took off the top 45 ft. leaving a 116-ft. trunk since then. The property that is now the Big Tree State Park was donated to the state by Florida State Senator Moses Overstreet, hence the tree's nickname. In 1946 the American Forestry Association bored a hole in the trunk to remove a test core and found the age to be 3,500 years. A companion tree is not far from The Senator that remains today and is 2,000 years old.
Two men pose in front of The Senator in this 1920's photo
from the Florida State Archives to illustrate the size of the trunk.
WFTS-TV posted some raw video showing the tree burning:
The Orlando Sentinel has the STORY.
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