Federal officials on Wednesday announced the arrest of a man accused of deliberately sparking the deadly blaze that devastated Pacific Palisades, California, in January.
The Justice Department and the Los Angeles Police Department said at a press conference that 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht of Melbourne, Florida, started the Lachman Fire on New Year’s Day. The Lachman Fire eventually became the Palisades Fire after it was rekindled by severe winds a week later. In the federal criminal complaint, Rinderknecht is charged with maliciously starting the fire that eventually “burned down the Palisades,” according to Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
If convicted on that charge, Rinderknecht faces up to 20 years in prison. However, Essayli stated that authorities have not yet determined all the charges that Rinderknecht will face, and more charges will likely be presented to a federal grand jury.
Essayli said that Rinderknecht, an Uber driver, was in Pacific Palisades late on New Year’s Eve after working throughout the evening. Rinderknecht allegedly got out of his car and walked up a trail to a nearby hilltop, where he recorded videos and listened to a rap song. The song was accompanied by a music video that showed objects being set on fire, according to Essayli.
“Twelve minutes into the new year, environmental sensing platforms indicated that a fire had started. It took the defendant several tries to contact 911 to report the fire,” Essayli said. “He fled the scene in his car, but turned around after passing fire engines driving in the opposite direction to fight the fire. While the Lachman Fire burned, the defendant walked up the same trail from earlier that night to watch the fire and firefighters, using his iPhone to take short videos of the scene.”
The U.S. attorney added that while firefighters successfully extinguished the blaze, the fire continued to smolder underground “within the root structure of the dense vegetation” and was rekindled by heavy winds on January 7, “causing what became known as the Palisades Fire.”
Get 40% off new DailyWire+ annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout
Rinderknecht was questioned by law enforcement on January 24 and is accused of lying to investigators about where he was when he first saw the Lachman Fire. Rinderknecht claimed that he was near the bottom of the hiking trail, but geo-location data from his 911 call revealed that he was standing “above the fire in a clearing nearly 30 feet from the blaze as it rapidly grew,” Essayli said.
Some of Rinderknecht’s passengers on New Year’s Eve told investigators that the suspect appeared agitated before he dropped them off. Essayli also pointed to images the suspect allegedly generated on the artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT that showed a burning city. The suspect allegedly generated the image in the months leading up to the fire.
Rinderknecht was arrested in Florida, where he was most recently living, but he was living in Pacific Palisades at the time of the fire. Essayli stated that Rinderknecht has no criminal history, and authorities did not disclose their belief regarding Rinderknecht’s motive, adding that it would be addressed in court.
Rinderknecht is scheduled to appear in the U.S. District Court in Orlando at 1:30 ET on Wednesday.
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
The Palisades Fire ripped through the Los Angeles neighborhood on January 7, killing 12 people and destroying thousands of homes. It was one of multiple devastating fires that ripped through Los Angeles County in January. The Eaton Fire, about 15 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles in Altadena, was the most destructive blaze, killing 19 people and destroying more than 9,000 buildings. The cause of the Eaton Fire is still being investigated.
.png)
.png)
