“Today we are announcing the arrest of 29 year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht on a criminal complaint charging him with maliciously starting what became the Palisades Fire in January. The complaint alleges that Rinderknecht started a fire in Pacific Palisades on New Year’s Day – a blaze that eventually turned into one of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles history, causing death and widespread destruction. Among the evidence that was collected from his digital devices was an image he generated on ChatGPT depicting a burning city. While we cannot undo the damage and destruction that was done, we hope his arrest and the charges against him bring some measure of justice to the victims of this horrific tragedy. Rinderknecht’s initial appearance is scheduled for today at 1:30 pm EDT in US District Court in Orlando. Rinderknecht is presumed innocent until proven guilty,” tweeted Central District of California Acting US Attorney Attorney Bill Essayli on Wednesday.

Since you were wondering Rinderknecht is listed as having “No Party Affiliation.” His parents however are registered Republicans, while two older siblings are registered Dems. So 50/50 on that.

With that very important data point out of the way, notice that Essayli says “Rinderknecht started a fire in Pacific Palisades on New Year’s Day” which doesn’t quite add up if you look at the National Zero article headline quoting a National Weather Service Los Angeles office’s advisory “‘THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE WINDSTORM SEEN SINCE 2011’” timestamped at 5:21 AM Pacific Standard Time on January 7th, 2025 and then – this is fucking heartbreaking to see now just how quickly that warning came to fruition – “Thousands evacuate from raging wildfire in Los Angeles” timestamped just over eight hours later at 1:39 PM Pacific Standard Time on January 7th, 2025. Six days later, obviously.

The answer lies in a case put together by the San Francisco Chronicle that month: Locals had claimed that someone was shooting fireworks off just after midnight on New Year’s, sparking a fire on the dry hillside, which the Los Angeles Fire Department quickly responded to and contained, even spending the full day stamping out. It wasn’t enough and the ember that sparked the blaze erupted again during the windstorm, leading to the cataclysmic fire. The complaint specifically goes out of its way to say that it was Rinderknecht purposefully lighting something on fire that did it.