Reaction to man arrested for igniting the Palisades Fire in California

LOS ANGELES (NBC, KYMA) - Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Pacific Palisades residents shared their reaction to the arrest of a 29-year-old man who started the January fires earlier this year.

Mayor Bass reacted to Wednesday's news during a press conference saying for her, the arrest doesn't bring closure, but it is a step in the right direction.

Bass said she's looking forward to reviewing the after action report once it's released to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.

The mayor and Palisades residents agree that the arrest brings back the trauma of the fires, but it is a step towards justice.

"To me, the news of the arrest of the individual that did such a heinous act just re raises all the trauma. It sends you back to the day. And so my heart right now goes out to all of the people who survived, and of course, those individuals that didn't.

All of that devastation...the worst natural disaster in our history took place because of the act of an individual.

It'll be interesting, and I will look forward to more details coming out. I've received the document, but we haven't had a chance to really review it, but, but this is a day that we need to all think about what happened nine months ago, and to me, it doesn't bring any closure, but hopefully it's the first step toward justice."

Karen Bass, Mayor of Los Angeles

"This person sat there thinking about what it would be like to burn our city. The pain has run so deep for 10 months now. We want justice. We're looking for answers, and today is a big step forward.

As a community, I think today represents a day where the poly, strong community, the community the Palisades, can feel some step forward as we continue to heal, rebuild and come back home, but we want justice served. We want the full force of justice."

Larry Vein, Executive Director, Pali Strong

"I mean, honestly, it's, it's a lot of emotions. I think it'll take years to process, but it's not what we originally thought. Like you said, it wasn't the kids with the fireworks, it wasn't, you know, natural causes, it wasn't the electric company. It was, yeah, just some like crazy psychopath that I like was fantasizing about it, like you said, creating images of talent burning and, yeah, it's a lot to like process, to be honest, that one person would be evil enough to do this.

Yeah, he was part of the community, and that's like, what's honestly kind of hurtful about it. You know, the policy is just a very like, tight community, and the fact that one of our own would do this is kind of crazy."

Bass says the after action report should be released later Wednesday or Thursday.