3,500-year-old cypress tree catches fire, collapses in Florida park

LONGWOOD, Fla. – Firefighters say one of the world’s oldest cypress trees has caught fire and collapsed in central Florida.

It’s unknown what caused a 36-metre bald cypress tree named “The Senator” to catch fire early Monday. Mike Martin of the state Division of Forestry tells the Orlando Sentinel that arson may be to blame.

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Seminole County Fire Rescue spokesman Steve Wright tells the Orlando Sentinel newspaper that the tree burned for several hours from the inside out.

Firefighters arrived around 5:50 a.m. and pulled more than 240 metres of hose through the woods to the fire. Wright says a six-metre section of the tree fell off around 7:45 a.m., and the tree collapsed a half-hour later.

According to the county’s parks and preservation department, “The Senator” was roughly 3,500 years old.

Parks officials say the tree reached a height of 50 metres before a 1925 hurricane lopped off its top.