BREAKING: Palisades Fire Determined to Be Arson; Arrest Made

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Bill Essayli, Acting US Attorney for the Central District of California, announced Wednesday that 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht, formerly of Pacific Palisades, has been arrested for igniting the Lachman Fire on January 1, 2025, which ultimately became the Palisades Fire.

That fire killed 12 people, destroyed more than 6,800 structures, and damaged over 1000 more buildings. Rinderknecht is charged with destruction of property by means of fire, Essayli said, which is "a felony that carries a mandatory minimum five-year federal prison sentence and is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison."

Rinderknecht was arrested Tuesday in Florida, where he now lives, and will make an initial appearance in the federal court in Orlando later Wednesday.

According to Essayli, the charges against Rinderknecht are "supported by digital evidence," including Rinderknecht's "ChatGPT prompt of a dystopian painting showing a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it," which was created a few months before the fire.

Today we are announcing the arrest of 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht on a criminal complaint charging him with maliciously starting what became the Palisades Fire in January.
⁰The complaint alleges that Rinderknecht's started a fire in Pacific Palisades on New Year's Day --… pic.twitter.com/UzrFa0Lmrz
— Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) October 8, 2025

Essayli said that Rinderknecht was an Uber driver who lived in the Palisades, had worked that New Year's Eve, and that "two of his passengers he appeared agitated and angry that night." His last passengers were being dropped off in the Palisades, and after that, Rinderknecht tried to call "a former friend," then walked up Temescal Ridge Trail in Topanga State Park, and listened to a French rap song in which the video includes objects being lit on fire.

"It took Rinderknecht several tries calling 911 to report the fire," Essayli said. Rinderknecht fled the scene but turned around to follow the fire engines headed to the fire. He walked up the same trail to watch firefighting efforts, using his iPhone to take short videos of the scene. The fire was contained, but "continued to smolder and burn underground within the root structure of the dense vegetation. On January 7th, heavy winds caused this underground fire to surface and spread above ground, causing what became known as the Palisades Fire."

Rinderknecht was interviewed by January 24th, and lied to law enforcement about where he was when he spotted the fire, claiming that he was at the bottom of the hill, but "geolocation data for the 911 call showed that he was standing above the fire in a clearing merely 30 feet from the blaze as it rapidly grew."

Kenny Cooper, Special Agent in Charge for the Los Angeles ATF Field Office, said that "the fire was a holdover fire, meaning it was deeply seated in dense vegetation and roots and continued to burn undetected until catastrophic weather ensued, resulting in the Palisades Fire." The ATF has maintained an active crime scene on Lachman Drive in the Palisades since January 13.

Since the moment the Palisades Fire was contained, residents have questioned whether the January 1 fire was fully extinguished and whether it was the cause of the January 7 fire. During a resident's meeting the week after the fire at a nearby synagogue, LAFD brass claimed over and over that there was no way that it was a reignition, and technically it was not, as SAC Cooper said. However, knowing how dense the vegetation was (it had not burned in more than 40 years) Palisades residents will undoubtedly, and understandably, maintain that LAFD should have had a major presence near the Temescal Ridge Trail on January 7 and pre-positioned assets. While Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed those assets were pre-positioned, a lawsuit filed by residents claims they were not.

During the press conference, Governor Gavin Newsom stated: "There's a reason we pre-positioned hundreds of assets and personnel on Sunday in anticipation of this wind event. 110 engines specifically were sent down, 45 Cal Fire, 65 through our mutual aid system through the Office of Emergency Services, water tenders down here, 7 new helicopters we brought from Northern California down to Southern California.
However, none of those firefighting assets mentioned by the Governor were pre-deployed to Pacific Palisades, a wildfire-prone area and the site of the Lachman Fire just six days earlier.

After describing the exhaustive scientific testing ATF undertook during the investigation, SAC Cooper said, "I'll just highlight, we're not making a probable cause arrest. This team up here feels that we have met beyond a reasonable doubt. We are confident that the burden of proof by the government on this presumed innocent person will be met in trial."

Additional charges are possible, Essayli said, noting that Rinderknecht was charged via a criminal complaint and announcing that the evidence will all be presented to a grand jury, and saying:

"This complaint covers that fire and the damages and deaths that were caused by that fire. As far as what additional charges he will face, we will make those determinations in the coming days."

Regardless of what criminal charges and convictions occur, the civil suits against Newsom, the City of Los Angeles, and the State of California for their roles in creating the conditions leading up to the fire and the response to it, will continue, residents tell RedState.

Read the full complaint below:

Usa v Rinderknecht Complaint by Jennifer Van Laar