A man has been arrested in Florida for intentionally starting what would become the devastating Palisades fire in California, which killed 12 people and wiped out a wealthy enclave of Los Angeles earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Jonathan Rinderknecht started a fire near a hiking trail in the mountains near Pacific Palisades a few minutes after midnight on Jan. 1 after completing a day’s work behind the wheel of an Uber car.
Los Angeles firefighters believed they had quickly extinguished that fire, known as the Lachman Fire. But it erupted again on Jan. 7 after smoldering underground for a week, becoming the Palisades Fire, according to federal investigators.
Rinderknecht, 29, called 911 multiple times on Jan. 1 before successfully connecting to report the fire, according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. He also recorded videos on his phone of firefighters trying to put out the fire.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the cause of the fire with the Los Angeles Fire and Police Departments.
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It was one of the most destructive fires in the city’s history, destroying approximately 6,000 structures around Los Angeles, causing an estimated $150 billion in damage, and occurred simultaneously with another enormous destructive fire in neighboring Altadena, known as the Eaton Fire.
It ravaged much of Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu before firefighters finally managed to contain the blaze about 24 days later.
ATF investigators concluded that the Palisades fire, which started suddenly, was likely started by someone using a lighter to burn a combustible material “such as vegetation or paper,” the complaint states. Cell phone data shows that no one besides Rinderknecht was in the area at the time, and he himself reported seeing no one else near the trail.
Rinderknecht, who told investigators he formerly lived in Pacific Palisades, was arrested in Florida. Authorities will transfer him back to the Central District of California to face prosecution. He faces a federal charge of arson because the fire burned federal land, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
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A public defender representing him did not respond to a request for comment.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other local officials have faced heavy criticism over the preparation and response to the fire, with Bass firing Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley in February.
“Every day that families are displaced is one day too many and as we work tirelessly to bring Angelenos home, we also work toward closure and justice – and today is a step forward in that process,” Bass said in a statement Wednesday.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the arrest was an important step in determining how the fire started “and bringing closure to the thousands of survivors whose lives were upended.”
