A young model allegedly set a fire that caused one of the world’s oldest cypress trees to burn and collapse because she needed light in the darkness to see what drugs she was doing.
Sara Barnes, 26, of Winter Park, Florida, was identified by two witnesses as the person who caused the 118ft bald cypress tree named ‘The Senator’ to burn and collapse on January 16, police said.
The woman allegedly took photos of the fire on the 3,500-year-old tree with her phone but did not call 911 – and authorities found methamphetamine, scales and drug paraphernalia at her home.
One of the first photos seen on her public Facebook profile is of clumps of marijuana. Agricultural officials searched her home on Tuesday and also confiscated her mobile phone and laptop.
Since Barnes’s arrest was made public, she has received plenty of harsh criticism because the tree – dated by park officials thanks to its ring samples – was a beloved historic symbol in Longwood, Florida.
A $30,000 fence is planned to be built nearby to stop visitors stealing the remaining portions of the tree, or from standing too near Lady Liberty, a neighbouring 2,000-year-old cypress tree.
The tree made it 165ft before a 1925 hurricane lopped off its top, park officials say. Native American Indians who lived throughout central Florida would use the tree as a landmark.
In the late 19th century it became a popular visitor attraction. It was the centrepiece of Longwood’s Big Tree Park and believed to be the oldest of its kind in North America.
It was also thought to be the fifth oldest in the world. Firefighters had a difficult time getting to the tree at Longwood’s Big Tree Park and had to run almost a mile of hose to get to The Senator.
The tree, which had withstood lightning storms, hurricanes, droughts and other harsh conditions, burned for several hours before it was weakened so much that it collapsed in less than three hours.
Initially, authorities thought it was simply a natural accident and the damage from a strike of lightening. A 20ft section of the tree fell off at 7:45am, and the tree collapsed a half-hour later.
According to News13, firefighters had to keep a considerable distance. As the heat rose, the top of tree burned, sending burning limbs falling more than 100ft to the ground below.
Later, a sheriff’s helicopter dumped water on the smouldering tree. The Senator is named for Senator M.O. Overstreet, who donated the land where the tree stands to Seminole County in 1927.
