Fire claims historic Florida tree ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Officials say they have ruled out arson but don't know what started the fire in Florida that consumed a 3,500-year-old cypress tree known as "The Senator." The 125-foot-tall tree was one of the oldest pond cypresses in the world and was featured at Big Tree Park in Seminole County, Fla., Hurricane winds caused the tree to lose its top portion in the 1920s. The cypress burned from the inside out for several hours and firefighters tried to put out the blaze, but the tree collapsed at 8:31 a.m. EST Monday, leading Seminole County Fire Rescue spokesman Steve Wright to speculate the fire might have been intentionally started, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Another fire official concurred. "From my observations it appears to be arson," said Mike Martin with the state Division of Forestry. It looks like the fire was concentrated right where the tree was. However, the source of the fire was later found to have sparked high up in the interior of the hollow tree. An old, smoldering lightning strike or friction was considered as causes, WESH-TV, Orlando, reported. Cliff Frazier, a spokesman with the Division of Forestry said the official cause of the fire is "undetermined" but the investigation is ongoing, the Sentinel said. "The Senator" was named after Florida state Sen. M.O. Overstreet, who donated the tree and surrounding land for a park in 1927.