The arrest of a 29-year-old Florida man for starting what eventually became the Palisades fire shed more light Monday on firefighters’ suppression efforts, while affirming, for many, suspicions that local residents have had for months: that a smaller blaze, drive by fierce winds on Jan. 1 reignited a week later into the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, a former resident of the Palisades, was charged with destruction of property by means of fire, according to the 24-page federal criminal complaint against him.
Authorities charged him with starting the Lachman fire on the morning of Jan.1 on federal property within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, as well as property owned by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority and California State Parks.
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, authorities found that the Palisades fire was a “holdover” fire – a continuation of the Lachman fire that began early in the morning on New Year’s Day 2025.
Prosecutors on Wednesday said firefighters quickly suppressed the Lachman fire, but that “unbeknownst to anyone the fire continued to smolder and burn underground within the root structure of dense vegetation,” according to the complaint.
On Jan. 7, fierce winds reignited the Lachman fire, according to special agent Kenny Cooper of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the lead agency in the nine-month investigation.
And that would explode into what became the Palisades fire, raging for 25 days, destroying more than 23,000 acres, killing 12 and burning about 6,800 structures in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles and in Malibu, according to prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The allegations still need to make their way through the judicial system. Federal prosecutors will need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Palisades fire indeed grew from the blaze that broke out six days earlier.
But the suggestion that the initial blaze smoldered did not escape the notice of residents and leaders in the area on Wednesday.
Some questioned why, if what prosecutors say was true, that the first, smaller fire was able to smolder. Others, including local leaders, stopped short of criticizing the fire department. Some residents were just getting word of the earlier fire. Some said it raised questions over the resources the department ultimately devoted to the blaze, once Jan. 7 rolled around.
For Blake Armstrong, 39, whose home at Tahitian Terrace mobile park on Pacific Coast Highway was one of the first structures to burn in the fire, news of the arrest was a shock.
“The nexus between the fact he started a fire on Jan. 1 and it was reignited seems attenuated to me as to his intent, but I look forward to seeing what the evidence is,” he said.
Ultimately, authorities say firefighters did what they could, and it was the suspect who is responsible for the catastrophe that ensued.
Palisades fire survivor Denise Doyen agreed, saying she saw the unprecedented wind conditions that burned her home, along with 17 others on her street, and watched as firefighters on the ground and planes and helicopters above fought the blaze.
“They were doing a great job, but it was impossible odds once the winds were that bad and the airplanes were grounded,” Doyen said. “And how long do you babysit a fire? Those winds were unbelievable.”
Doyen said she is confident firefighters would have knocked the reignited fire down if not for the unprecedented fury of the winds, which knocked over an 80-pound ping pong table in her home.
“This was a freak thing, and people need to keep that in mind,” she added.
According to the complaint, overnight on Jan. 1, LAFD, assisted by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, used water drops from aircraft and hose lines, as well as handlines dug by county fire crews, to battle the small initial fire.
They followed up during the day with suppression efforts, wetting down the areas within the fire’s perimeter. At the end of the efforts, crews returned the next day, Jan. 2, to collect fire hoses.
When they did, “it appeared to them that the fire was fully extinguished,” according to the complaint.
Armstrong said he can’t specifically ascribe culpability to firefighters for not fully dousing the Lachman fire, but he does think the Los Angeles Fire Department “did not throw everything they could have, they didn’t throw enough resources on the fire” on Jan. 7.
LAFD on Wednesday did not speak directly to the department’s efforts on the Jan. 1 fire. But in an After-Action Report released on Wednesday, the department said the Lachman fire was fueled by light winds from the south-southwest, just east of the upper Palisades.
It ignited near the Skull Rock Trail in Temescal Canyon and quickly expanded to around four acres in dense brush, threatening Via La Costa. By the early morning hours, the blaze’s forward progress had been stopped. There were no formal evacuations requested, and residents were able to shelter in place, according to the report.
(United States of America,
v. JONATHAN RINDERKNECHT)
Key takeaways for the department noted in the report, regarding the overall Palisades fire response, include leadership changes and stronger recall protocols, meaning holding people over to fill apparatus — such as fire trucks and other firefighting vehicles — as well as strengthening interagency collaboration, Interim LAFD Chief Ronnie Villanueva told City News Service. He noted that public notification systems and communications need to be improved as well.
Affirmation over cause
Alexander Robertson, one of the attorneys suing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power as well as the state over the Palisades fire, said Rinderknecht’s arrest confirms their argument that the blaze was ignited by the smoldering embers of an earlier fire.
“Now we have an official cause that supports 100% our theory that we alleged way back in July,” Robertson said. “We always assumed the (earlier) Lachman fire was started illegally.”
Robertson, in his lawsuit, is alleging the monstrous Palisades fire was exacerbated by the lack of water to hydrants, and is accusing the state of failing to monitor the smoldering remains of the Lachman fire, which federal authorities say triggered the Palisades blaze six days later.
Robertson said the allegations of arson don’t affect the lawsuit.
That the Palisades fire was allegedly a continuation of the Lachman fire was certainly a suspicion for Allison Polhill, a Palisades resident and senior advisor for LAUSD Board Member Nick Melvoin.
On Jan. 7, she helped evacuate children as the Palisades fire spread. She took steps with the district to keep Topanga Elementary students from going to school that day due to the high winds.
She said that on Jan 1., from where she lived on the Pacific Palisades’ Alphabet Streets, she could see the fire. Her son told everyone at their New Year’s Eve party that they needed to leave. Polhill even packed a bag that night. She reported calling her friends who live on Lachman Lane at 2 a.m. to wake them up to tell them that there was a fire.
“To be honest with you, when this report came out, many of us had a pit in our stomach. It re-opens a wound after nine months,” Polhill said. She said that and other Palisades residents knew that the fire “did, in fact, start on Jan. 1 at around 2 a.m,” and was then “rekindled” on Jan. 7.
She said she and residents on her block “felt rage” after learning the news of the arrest on Monday.
“We were all like, nine months later, come on, everybody knows. It was the exact same,” said Polhill. “This guy set a fire on the [Jan. 1… Everybody knew-there were predictions of dangerous high winds,” suggesting she knew the Palisades fire was a continuation of the Lachlan fire.
Polhill said a friend told her, ‘if [the Lachlan fire] had happened on a windy day, it would be a whole different deal,” meaning that, if there were winds like the ones on Jan. 7, it would’ve been much more disastrous.
‘Working toward closure’
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass praised the many agencies involved in the investigation, including the Los Angeles police and fire departments, adding the fire department’s after-action report will be released shortly.
Bass said the arrest is one step forward in bringing displaced Angelenos home while “working toward closure and towards justice.”
Wednesday’s arrest cannot erase the pain and unimaginable loss for fire survivors, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement, “but it is a step toward accountability.”
Eaton fire contrasts
Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, contrasted Wednesday’s arrest with the investigation into the Eaton fire, which is officially still undetermined. Chen said by releasing a draft compensation plan, Southern California Edison is indirectly admitting culpability for the fire.
Federal prosecutors sued the utility on Sept. 4, alleging sparks from a faulty transmission tower caused the blaze.
Still, investigators haven’t determined the cause of the fire, which broke out the same day as the Palisades fire in the community of Altadena and killed 19 people.
An outside review released in September found that a lack of resources and outdated policies for sending emergency alerts led to delayed evacuation warnings.
The report commissioned by Los Angeles County supervisors said a series of weaknesses, including “outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities,” hampered the county’s response.
The arrest Wednesday, coming nine months after survivors and victims’ families continue to navigate the unique everyday challenges of recovery and rebuilding, is simply sad, Chen said.
City News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this report.