The Senator in the 1920s Click on the image for a larger view

A vast 3500 year old tree in Florida was destroyed by fire earlier this week in mysterious circumstances.

The tree, officially known as The Senator, but referred to many Floridian’s as simply The Big Tree, was thought to have been the oldest pond cypress tree in the world and was over 118 ft tall with a trunk circumference of 35 ft.

The tree was used as a landmark by Native Americans and before a hurricane in 1925 reached a towering height of 165 ft.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, but forestry officials made an embarrassing U-turn the day after the fire after initially stating that they had ruled out arson.

Media reports stated that firefighters has noticed a pile of branches near the base of the fire as if a campfire had been set, and that there had been little lightening activity in the area.

Yet forestry officials still stated that either lightening or friction caused by the tree swaying were the most likely causes – even despite the lightening rod that had been installed in the tree several years ago – and arson was to be ruled out.

By Tuesday however forestry spokesman Cliff Frazier was saying, "We are not ruling out anything at this time. The information I got from the investigator today and what I got yesterday was totally different."

Whatever the cause, firefighters fought hard to save the tree, pulling over 800ft of hose through the woods when they arrived at the scene at 0550. Large sections of the tree began to fall on them however, and they were forced to retreat to a safe distance and regroup.

The tree collapsed at around 0815.

The news was greeted with genuine sadness in the county of Seminole, where the tree had stood for 3400 years long before the county was even founded, with one emotional resident quoted on television reports as saying “It’s part of our history as a family.”

Speculating as to the cause of the fire, Laura Winfree went on to say, “You can’t do something like that to any nature, let alone a historical monument, a national treasure.”

Clearly residents will miss the bald cypress tree, and their focus will be shifted to protecting the nearby Lady Liberty tree, which is around 2000 years old and stands at a relatively modest 89 ft tall.