Suspect charged in connection with deadly Palisades Fire, officials say
The fire burned thousands of homes and killed 12 people when it tore through the Los Angeles area in January.
A 29-year-old man is facing federal charges for starting one of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles history.
Los Angeles (CNN) — Florida resident Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is facing a federal charge of destruction of property by means of fire, according to Bill Essayli, the acting US attorney for Southern California.
“The investigation into the Palisades Fire of January 2025 was lengthy, complex and, as I mentioned, extremely thorough,” Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said at a news conference on Wednesday.
The fire burned thousands of homes and killed 12 people when it tore through the Los Angeles area in January.
The official determination for the blaze was previously “under investigation.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta told CNN earlier this year there were “some indications that arson is a possibility that we have to be open to.”
Fifteen members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ National Response Team headed up the investigation into the fire’s “cause and origins,” ATF deputy assistant director Tim Jones previously told CNN.
Firefighters watch the flames from the Palisades Fire burning a home on January 8, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. (Apu Gomes/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
The Palisades Fire began the morning of January 7. Six days earlier, there had been another fire in the same vicinity, according to satellite images and dispatch recordings analyzed by CNN. That fire had been reported contained within hours by local firefighters after growing to about eight acres, according to alerts from the LA fire department, which noted a team would work to ensure no flare-ups occurred.
The proximity of the two fires had prompted questions as to whether winds could have rekindled smoldering debris left from New Year’s Eve fireworks to trigger the Palisades Fire, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington Post.
The Palisades wildfire is the ninth deadliest wildfire in state history, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The deadly inferno in Los Angeles is the third-most destructive wildfire in Southern California history, destroying thousands of homes and businesses and burning more than 23,000 acres.
The fire was anticipated to be among the costliest wildfires in the history of the United States, a climate expert predicted.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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