Jonathan Rinderknecht arrested for intentionally starting Pacific Palisades fire

More left-wing terrorism?

An arrest has been made in connection to the deadly Palisades fire.

Update: 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht of Orlando, Florida, was arrested for intentionally setting the Palisades fire.

Rinderknecht was an Uber driver at the time he intentionally set the fire.

Per ABC News:

An arrest has been made in connection with the Palisades Fire, which caused widespread destruction in Los Angeles County and killed a dozen people earlier this year, sources close to the investigation confirmed to ABC News.

Federal and local law enforcement officials are scheduled to announce a “significant development” in the criminal investigation into the fire on Wednesday.

Earlier this year in January, fires exploded in Los Angeles after LA Mayor Karen Bass cut firefighting funds.

LAX video journalist “Airline Videos” captured the moment the Pacific Palisades fire erupted.

“Uh oh! Uh oh! Uh oh! Not something we wanna see here in Southern California. A fire has now broke out. That is looking like Encino. Uh oh. Not what we wanna see here in Southern California. A fire has now broke out there in the hills. I believe that’s looking toward possibly Bel Air, Encino,” Livestreamer Kevin said Tuesday morning.

“This was the concern for many with these high winds and as dry as they are. Weather watch in full effect,” Kevin said referring to the gusty Santa Ana winds that reached over 80 miles per hour on Tuesday.

“With these high winds that fire can spread really quickly,” Kevin said as he panned over to the plume of smoke in the distance. “There are a lot of expensive homes up there in the hills.”

WATCH:

NEW: My former @FOXLA colleague Kevin captured video of the moment the #PalisadesFire first broke out on Tuesday morning. He runs @airlinevideos at LAX, where he has live cameras set up.

At 10:26 AM, as a Delta flight lands, you see the first small plume of smoke in the hills… pic.twitter.com/UwkEhwfuvJ

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 9, 2025

A few hours later the Pacific Palisades fire exploded and burned thousands of acres.

A friend who lives in Pacific Palisades sent me these horrific videos of the fire.

He just evacuated and said traffic was so bad people abandoned their cars. pic.twitter.com/mbOjz8QAf9

— Jon Michael Raasch (@JMRaasch) January 7, 2025

Thousands of homes and structures burned. More than a dozen people were killed.

The 360 degree annihilation of parts of Pacific Palisades is genuinely difficult to take in… pic.twitter.com/wzu2YDcND4

— alex thomson (@alextomo) January 9, 2025

US Attorney Bill Essayli said Rinderknecht was charged with maliciously starting the Palisades fire in January. He is scheduled to appear in US District Court in Orlando today at 1:30 ET.

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

Per Fox News reporter Matt Finn: Jonathan Rinderknecht asked Chat GPT last July to create this “dystopian” image that shows a forest burning on the left and people running from it. In the middle, people in “poverty.” On the right, the rich watching the world burn.

BREAKING: Federal investigators say the man responsible for the catastrophic Palisades fire, Jonathan Rinderknecht, asked Chat GPT last July to create this “dystopian” image that shows a forest burning on the left and people running from it. In the middle, people in “poverty.”… pic.twitter.com/8VKCFn6d48

— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) October 8, 2025

Watch the DOJ press conference:

WATCH LIVE: DOJ holds press conference after arrest made in deadly Pacific Palisades fire https://t.co/88QlM1GRsi

— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 8, 2025