Florida Man Arrested in Connection with Palisades Fire
A Florida man has been arrested in connection with the Palisades Fire, which devastated Los Angeles in January. The wind-driven blaze on January 7 killed 12 people and destroyed nearly 6,900 structures, becoming the most devastating in the city’s history. The flames spread over more than 36 square miles, gutting schools, historic landmarks, and some of the most expensive buildings in the state.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is facing a federal charge of destruction of property by means of fire, according to a federal complaint filed today.
Rinderknecht was working as an Uber driver and lived in Pacific Palisades, a wealthy coastal suburb, at the time of the fire. Prosecutors allege that he dropped off a passenger on New Year’s Eve before walking up Skull Rock, a popular hiking trail in the Santa Monica Mountains. Rinderknecht tried to phone a friend and listened to a French rap video on YouTube featuring a person lighting things on fire, prosecutors said. He then set a fire using an open flame and dialled 911 to report it, only to have no phone service.
A fire was reported shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day that charred eight acres near the Skull Rock trailhead in the Palisades Highlands. The flames, called the Lachman fire, had been contained, city fire department alerts show.
Rinderknecht allegedly lied to police during an interview, claiming he was near the bottom of the trail. He also earlier used ChatGPT to create at least nine artificially generated images of a ‘burning city’, Bill Essayli, the acting US attorney for Southern California, said in a post on X.
Investigators suspect that the Palisades fire was a ‘holdover’ fire, meaning it erupted from the remnants of the earlier blaze. “Unbeknownst to anyone, the fire continued to smoulder and burn underground, within the root structure of dense vegetation,” the complaint said of the Lachman fire.
Stray embers inside buried wood were whipped up by a growing windstorm, according to an affidavit filed with the complaint. Investigators initially suspected that fireworks played a part in the wildfire. Officials still list the cause of the Palisades fire as ‘under investigation’.
Essayli said: “While we cannot undo the damage and destruction that was done, we hope his arrest and the charges against him bring some measure of justice to the victims of this horrific tragedy.”
Governor Gavin Newsom added: “This tragedy will never be forgotten – lives were lost, families torn apart and entire communities forever changed – and there must be accountability.”
Rinderknecht will appear in court at 1.30pm local time.
