What to Know
- A 29-year-old Florida man and former Pacific Palisades resident is charged with starting a New Year’s Day fire that became the deadly Palisades Fire Jan. 7.
- Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested Tuesday in Florida and charged by federal prosecutors with destruction of property by means of fire.
- The New Year’s Day fire smoldered for days in the dense root structure in the LA County coastal community and was fanned by a Jan. 7 windstorm, authorities say.
- The suspect was in the Pacific Palisades area on the night of Dec. 31 after working as an Uber driver and dropping off a passenger in the neighborhood, prosecutors say.
- Witness statements, a ChatGPT profile, video surveillance, cellphone data, and an analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene were part of the investigation.
- The Palisades Fire expanded to 23,400 acres before in was contained Jan. 31. Twelve people were killed and more than 6,800 structures, including residences and businesses, were destroyed.
The man charged in connection with one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires on record in California will remain in U.S. Marshals’ custody after a court appearance that included testimony about law enforcement visits to the Florida home where he was living.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, was arrested Tuesday in West Melbourne, Florida, where he was living with family members for the last five months after returning to Central Florida from Southern California. He was charged by federal authorities with destruction of property by means of fire in the deadly January Palisades Fire.
Rinderknecht is accused of starting a small fire on New Year’s Day in the Palisades that smoldered underground until Jan. 7, when it exploded in a historic Santa Ana windstorm to become the Palisades Fire. Twelve people were killed and more than 6,800 structures, including residences and businesses, were destroyed.
In an Orlando courtroom Thursday morning, a judge ruled after a 90-minute hearing that Rinderknecht will remain in federal custody, pending trial. The local special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives testified at the hearing about law enforcement visits to the West Melbourne, Florida home where Rinderknecht was living with his sister and brother-in-law.
ATF special agent Thomas Harrison provided details about visits to the home in September by West Melbourne police, including one on Sept. 19 regarding a disturbance call. A family member told police that Rinderknecht had threatened to burn down the house, the ATF agent testified in court.
The LA City Fire Department said many firefighters were allowed to go home after their shift despite the dangerously windy conditions. Robert Kovacik, Erik Leonard and Conan Nolan report for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025,
On Sept. 25, police returned to the house after Rinderknecht’s father told authorities he was concerned about the possibility his son had a gun in the house. The agent said Rinderknecht told police the gun was stored in a safe, but that law enforcement officers found the weapon in a stuffed animal in the garage.
No arrest was made or charges filed in either police call.
Two children had been living in the house before the family moved out due to concerns about Rinderknecht’s behavior, the agent testified.
Rinderknecht was arrested Oct. 7 in connection with the Palisades Fire during a traffic stop, the agent said. Details about what led to the traffic stop were not available.
Assistant Federal Defender Aziza Hawthorne said that officers never asked Rinderknecht’s sister if she thought his threat to burn down the house was credible and there were never any allegations of physical violence. Rinderknecht was not a flight risk, she said, and his family was supporting him during the criminal proceedings.
“He is not a risk to anyone,” Hawthorne said.
Rinderknecht’s next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 17.
A brother and two sisters were in the courtroom for Thursday’s hearing. Family members did not comment when asked about the charge against Rinderknecht outside of court.
The January wildfire killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures.
The Palisades Fire began Jan. 7 in the Palisades Highlands, where a week earlier, a relatively small brush fire now called the Lachman Fire was reported early New Year’s Day. Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Rinderknecht, who lived in the neighborhood near where the Lachman Fire started, was in the Pacific Palisades area on the night of Dec. 31 after working as an Uber driver. Two passengers, one of whom was dropped off in the Palisades area, reported that he appeared agitated, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
After dropping off the passenger, Rinderknecht parked near Skull Rock Trailhead and walked up the trail, Essayli said. He then used his phone to photograph a hilltop area and listened to a French rap song that included references to lighting fires, he added. Essayli said he listened to the song several times in the days before the fire.
About twelve minutes into the new year, sensors indicated a fire had started in the area.
Rinderknecht was interviewed Jan. 24, but claimed he was near a hiking trail, despite geo-location that showed he was standing in a clearing about 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew, Essayli said. Prosecutors said Rinderknecht left the area of the fire’s origin, but came back later that night and recorded video.
DOJ/Getty
DOJ/Getty
Jonathan Rindernecht, 29, is pictured.
“Rinderknecht called 911 several times, but didn’t get through because his iPhone was out of cellphone range,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “When he finally connected with 911, he was at the bottom of the hiking trail and reported the fire. By that point, a nearby resident already had reported the fire to authorities.
“Rinderknecht then fled in his car, passing fire engines driving in the opposite direction. He then turned around and followed the fire engines to the scene, driving at a high rate of speed. Rinderknecht walked up the same trail from earlier that night to watch the fire and the firefighters. At approximately 1:02 a.m., he used his iPhone to take more videos of the scene. “
Essayli said Rinderknecht was arrested based on digital evidence, including a ChatGPT profile that authorities said displayed a fire burning and people fleeing from the flames in what appeared to be an urban setting. The image, which also featured burning structures, was produced a few months before the fire, Essayli said.
In the criminal complaint, prosecutors said Rinderknecht typed a question into his ChatGPT app, “Are you at fault if a fire is lift (sic) because of your cigarettes?”
The response was, “Yes,” followed by an explanation, prosecutors said.
Witness statements, video surveillance, cellphone data, and an analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene also were part of the investigation. The ATF staged several controlled burns near the point of origin to test the detection of smoke and flames by wilderness cameras and other remote sensors, officials said.
ATF experts had also been working to evaluate the possibility that embers or material not fully extinguished from the New Year’s fire could have reignited a week later. The findings from those tests have not previously been made public.
Federal law enforcement officials told NBC News that an open flame was the ignition source of the New Year’s Day fire. The officials did not specify the flame’s ignition source.
The 26-page federal criminal complaint does not specify what exactly started the fire, but detailed what investigators were able to discount as part of the probe. In the complaint, prosecutors appeared to exclude potential causes, including fireworks, power lines, refraction of sunlight and smoking.
The Palisades Fire expanded to 23,400 acres before it was contained Jan. 31. The Palisades Fire is the ninth-deadliest wildfire on record in California and the third-most destructive.