LONGWOOD, Fla. — The Division of Forestry said the official cause of the fire that destroyed the historic tree known as The Senator is unknown.
Officials said there were no lightning strikes in the area, so they can only speculate as to the cause of the blaze.
“From what I am observing it looks as if someone set a fire to it and it really burned the tree very extensively and the tree has collapsed, so it’s definitely gone,” said Division of Forestry representative, Mike Martin.
The fire traveled through the hollow tree base, burning the 125-foot-tall tree from the inside out. The fire weakened it so much that it collapsed a little after 8 a.m. Monday.
I hope they find this moron before he burns down anything else.