Published on January 16th, 2012 | by James Johnson
0World’s Oldest Cypress Tree Burns To The Ground
Known as “The Senator” and “The Big Tree” a Central Florida cypress tree believed to be the oldest in the world burned to the ground on Monday morning.
In 1946 officials estimated the tree to be nearly 3,500 years old and the image shown above shows how wide the tree had become when examined by two men in 1920.
The tree was named “The Senator” because it was donated by a state senator.
Calling the burning a “nightmare” the Seminole County Fire Rescue spokesperson revealed that firefighters arrived at the park around 5:50am and used more than 800 feet of hose to reach the tree. By 7:45am the top of the tree had fallen off and more collapsed just 30 minutes later.
After the fire was extinguished just 25 feet of the once 165 tree cypress remained. Part of the tree had previously been torn off by hurricane winds.