The Senator, a 3,500 year old pond cypress is gone; burned from the inside out by the carelessness of a couple of women who went to Big Tree Park in Longwood, Florida to do meth.

At the start of the subsequent arson investigation, authorities initially believed the fire to be the result of natural causes. However, Police became suspicious when they found that 26 year old Sara Barnes had taken cell phone pictures of the tree on fire and uploaded them to her laptop and later to Facebook with the caption ‘look at this tree I burned’.

Two tips from Crimeline led the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to arrest Barnes, authorities said. Barnes later told investigators that she and a friend had been getting high inside the hollow tree and “lit a fire so they could see better.” The fire then destroyed the ancient tree in a matter of hours.

Barnes, was also charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia after authorities searched her home. Deputies also arrested Jodi Hill, 41, on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Both Hill and Barnes were booked into Seminole County Jail.

Firefighters responded to the park and had to run more than 800 feet of hoses through the woods to reach the fire. The tree, which was hollow, burned for several hours from the inside out, almost like a chimney, Wright said. Despite the best efforts of the fire department, including dumping water on the tree from a helicopter, the Senator succumbed to the ravages of the intense heat.

Big Tree Park is part of the Spring Hammock Preserve, home to an expansive variety of indigenous trees. The soil here is very high in organic matter and supports dense growths of vegetation. The rich soil is kept moist by mineral springs that bubble up to form small streams.

The tree that first sprung from a seedling more than 3,500 years before there even was a State of Florida was officially named The Senator but was simply “The Big Tree” to most Central Floridians and has a long and impressive history. The Senator was named after Moses Oscar Overstreet, a state senator from 1920 to 1925 who donated what is now Big Tree Park to the county. The Seminole Indians and others who lived in the area used this tree as a landmark, presumably because of its enormity. In 1925, a hurricane destroyed the top of the tree, reducing its original height of 165 feet (50 m) to a height of 118 feet (36 m).

In 1929, former president Calvin Coolidge visited The Senator and dedicated the site with a commemorative bronze plaque. The plaque and portions of an iron fence were stolen by vandals in 1945 and never recovered.

In the 1930’s, the WPA constructed walkways and elevated parts of the park permitting easier access for visitors. A billboard on U.S. Highway 17-92 boasted of the tree’s age and pointed motorists toward Big Tree Road — now General Hutchinson Parkway. In the 1960’s, the park charged 25 cents admission and there was a gift shop at the park, and souvenir items, such as pennants and jewelry boxes, show up from time to time on eBay.

The park was spruced up and rededicated in 2005. At the time, a companion tree was located and verified to be about 2,000 years old. Now all that is left of the once majestic tree is about 20 feet of burned stump.

Costa Rica has very dry times of the year which can cause wildfires, however arson is generally rare here, which is a very good thing.

Source: Grist List, Orlando Sentinel