Investigators are ruling out arson after one of the world's oldest cypress trees caught fire and collapsed in central Florida.
Seminole County firefighter Al Caballero, center, sprays water on the smoldering base of one of the remains of a 3,500-year-old cypress at Big Tree Park in Longwood, Florida. The 118-foot-tall bald cypress tree named "The Senator" collapsed after it caught fire early Monday.
Smoke rises from the smoldering base and fallen trunk of one of the world's oldest cypress trees, thought to be 3,500 years old, at Big Tree Park in Longwood, Florida.
Seminole County firefighter Al Caballero applies water to the smoldering base of one of the world's oldest cypress trees.
In this 1920's photo from the Florida State Archives, two men stand together and spread their arms to give an indication of the size of "The Senator," a giant bald cypress tree at Big Tree Park in Seminole County north of Longwood, Florida. The 118-foot-tall bald cypress caught fire early Monday, Jan. 16, 2012 and collapsed. Seminole County Fire Rescue spokesman Steve Wright told the Orlando Sentinel that the tree burned for several hours from the inside out.
