Man arrested for igniting the Palisades Fire in California

LOS ANGELES (NBC, KYMA) - California authorities said Wednesday they have arrested a 29-year-old man for igniting the January fire that destroyed Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

Officials said they have arrested Jonathan Rinderknecht for lighting a fire on New Year's Day that burned down much of the Pacific Palisades a week later.

A former Pacific Palisades resident, he was now living in Florida where he was arrested Tuesday, and will appear in court later Wednesday.

The blaze, which erupted on January 7, killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 homes and buildings in the Pacific Palisades, a wealthy coastal neighborhood of Los Angeles before it was fully contained on January 31.

Investigators determined the fire was intentionally lit, likely by a lighter taken to vegetation or paper, according to a criminal complaint said.

"The complaint unsealed today charges the defendant with destruction of property by means of fire, a felony that carries a mandatory minimum five year federal prison sentence and is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison," said Bill Essayli, Acting U.S. Attorney.

The criminal complaint said that authorities first interviewed Rinderknecht on January 24. He told them he had been in the area on January 1 and did not see anyone else in the area at that time.

In addition, Essayli said Rinderknecht used ChatGPT to generate a burning city before starting the Palisades Fire.

"The allegations in the affidavit are supported by digital evidence, including the defendant's ChatGPT prompt of a dystopian painting showing, in part, a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it," Essayli shared. "That's an image he produced a few months before the fire started."

Investigators excluded other possibilities including fireworks, lightning and power lines.