A arrest was made in relation to the Palisades fire, which caused generalized destruction in Los Angeles County and killed a dozen people earlier this year, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Jonathan Rinderknech, 29, is accused of “maliciously” a fire on January 1 in Pacific Palisades that finally exploded in Palisades Fire, said the Department of Justice.
The New Year’s forest fire was suffocated by fire teams, but continued to burning underground before the strong winds made him out to the surface and extended almost a week later, “causing what was known as the Palisades fire, one of the most destructive forest fires in the history of the city of Los Angeles,” said the Federal prosecutor Bill Essayli during a press conference on Wednesday.
An aerial view shows the devastation left by the Palisades fire in the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles, on January 27, 2025.
JAE C. HONG/AP
Rinderknecht has been criminally accused of destruction of goods through fire. He was arrested on Tuesday near his residence in Florida and is expected to appear for the first time before the Federal Court of Orlando on Wednesday, authorities said.
The Palisades fire broke out on January 7, burned more than 23,000 acres for more than three weeks and destroyed almost 7,000 structures, according to California firefighters.
It was lit the same day as the Eaton fire, which burned more than 14.00 acres in Los Angeles County, destroyed more than 9,400 structures and killed 19 people, according to officials.
The fires began to burn during the strong winds of Santa Ana, which, combined with dry conditions, helped to spread rapidly. This spread caused mass evacuations.
The Palisades fire decimated the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.
What was known as the Lachman fire was detected at 12:12 am on January 1 at the top of a hill in Pacific Palisades, according to the Department of Justice.
Rinderknecht, who according to the Department of Justice lived in Palisades at that time and worked as an Uber driver, had left a client in the fire area, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that Rinderknecht caused the fire when lighting a combustible material, such as vegetation or paper, with an open flame, probably a lighter.
He tried to communicate with 911 several times to inform the fire, before finally he achieved it once he had cell service, according to the complaint.
Essayli said the suspect left in his car but then returned and filmed firefighters responding to the fire.
Jonathan Rinderknecht appears in a photograph published by the Department of Justice.
Department of Justice
There are no indications that there was someone else in the area at the time the fire began, Essayli said.
The investigators interviewed Rinderknecht on January 24, during which he allegedly lied to where he was when he saw the Lachman fire, according to the Department of Justice.
“He said he was close to the end of a hiking route when he saw the fire for the first time and called 911, but the geolocation data of his iPhone supplier showed that he was standing in a clear 30 feet from the fire as he grew quickly,” said the Department of Justice in a press release.
Essayli said he did not want to discuss the reason, although he pointed out the digital evidence included in the complaint of an image that Rinderknecht allegedly generated in July using chatgpt, “which seems to show a dystopian city being fire.”
“You could see part of your thinking process in the previous months, when you were generating some really worrying images in Chatgpt,” said Essayli.
Essayli said the Department of Justice will make decisions about additional charges against Rindnderknecht in the next few days.
This is a development story. Consult the updates again.
