World's Largest Treehouse Mysteriously Razed to the Ground Within 15 Minutes

One of the biggest, highest treehouses in the world mysteriously burned to the ground. Officials confirmed the fires engulfed and destroyed the Minister's Treehouse, a one-of-a-kind structure located in Crossville, Tennessee, in about 15 minutes.

Cumberland County Fire Rescue battled the fire at the Minister's Treehouse in Crossville on October 22, WKRN reported. The firefighters receive calls where they were informed that the entire building was on fire at around 10:30 in the evening.

Bobby Derossett, a spokesman for the Cumberland County Fire Department, said the treehouse was already down after only 15 minutes, which is right by the time the firefighters arrived in the area. No injuries resulted from the blaze.

The fire official shared that it would be challenging to determine what started the fire. The cause remains under investigation.

"You'd probably never know what started it unless somebody comes up and [inform] us they [saw someone] doing it," Derossett said. He explained that there were no electrical fires nor storms in the area that evening, which could have burned the structure.

No one was injured in the incident, but people would "just [be] looking at a black spot on the ground" now, Derossett said.

What makes the treehouse special?

The Minister's Treehouse was assembled in the early 1990s by Horace Burgess, an architect-turned-minister, according to the Associated Press.

Burgess previously told the media that God commanded him to build the sprawling treehouse as a means of ministry. This call inspired him to construct the 97-foot, 10-store treehouse from salvaged wood scraps and recycled metals and it took him more than ten years to finish.

The place became known as "the Minister's Treehouse" to visitors. However, the minister's wife considered the treehouse as "a mistress." Burgess added that the destruction of the property was "a relief" in some ways.

The architect-turned-minister drove more than 250,000 nails with a gun, and about 500 pounds of penny nails by hand, into the wooden planks that made the structure.

The fire department spokesman said the treehouse was made of lumber scraps people gave to Burgess over the years.

It would eventually become a tourist draw in the small city in east Tennessee.

"Everybody knew about the treehouse. They'd [tourists] come from all over the country to see it," according to Derossett.

The treehouse became so overrun with tourists that the Tennessee State Fire Marshall labeled it a public safety hazard and closed it in 2012, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

According to a local news report, state fire marshals shut down the Minister's Treehouse in 2012. The reasons listed include violation of height restrictions, lack of fire alarm or sprinkler system, and lack of professional design input. 

Reports also said Burgess had already sold the treehouse. Trevor Kerley, the Cumberland County fire chief, said the new owner had not yet insured the treehouse. The investigation was also declined.

The Crossville Chronicle uploaded a video of the smoking pile on its Facebook page. Tourists who were able to visit the place or bring their families there on vacation joined in and reminisced about its grandeur.