A 29-year-old Uber driver was arrested and charged Wednesday with arson in connection to the Palisades Fire that killed 12 people and burned more than 23,000 acres in January.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, a Palisades resident who relocated to Florida after the January fires, was arrested, said U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli. Officials say that Rinderknecht planned the devastation, in part, using ChatGPT, generating images of a burning city using the OpenAI application (see below). The suspect was apprehended Tuesday in Orlando, Florida.
“The fire was ignited with an open flame,” Essayli said in a Wednesday press conference. “He actually did live in Palisades and he was familiar with the neighborhood in which this started.”
“He was an Uber driver, connected to drop someone off,” Essayli added. “He was in this neighborhood — this is New Year’s Eve, so it was around midnight — and he went up to this hilltop, and at some point up there, around 12:12 a.m., he ignited a fire.”
The complaint charging Rinderknecht says that his Uber passengers observed him as “agitated and angry” in rides close to midnight on the night of the fire.
In the affidavit by an unnamed ATF agent he said that “used his iPhone to access YouTube to listen to the song entitled “Un Zder, Un The,” by the French artist Josman,” which showed the artist lighting things on fire. Google records indicate that Rinderknecht watched the video three times that week, and listened to the song nine times.
That initial fire was allegedly lit near the “Hidden Buddha” clearing off the Palisades’ Skull Rock Trail. Called the Lachman Fire, it was extinguished by fire department officials on Jan. 1 but continued to smolder underground until the Santa Ana winds reignited the blaze on Jan. 7.
Up until now, it was believed a Jan. 7 brush fire had started in the Palisades Highlands and made its way down into the community, destroying 6,800 structures. Rinderknecht is accused of intentionally lighting the fire that smoldered underground before ultimately reigniting due to high Santa Ana winds.
“He is charged with starting a fire on Jan. 1, which is the fire that burned down the Palisades,” Essayli reiterated. “It did take a week to reignite, but he is charged with starting the Palisades Fire.”
Authorities also revealed Rinderknecht spoke to officials during the initial investigation and made false statements regarding his involvement with the related Lachman Fire. More information is set to come once the complaint is made public, including potential additional charges.
The LAPD, the ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office shared additional details in their Wednesday joint press conference, confirming fireworks were not involved while further detailing the teams’ scientific process for controlled burns.
In a separate statement Wednesday, Essayli said in an X post, “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.”
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.
— Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) October 8, 2025
⁰The complaint alleges that Rinderknecht's started a fire in Pacific Palisades on New Year's Day –… pic.twitter.com/UzrFa0Lmrz
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also applauded Rinderknecht’s arrest on Wednesday, stating on X, “Today’s arrest of 29-year-old Florida resident Jonathan Rinderknecht marks an important step toward uncovering how the horrific Palisades Fire began and bringing closure to the thousands of Californians whose lives were upended.”
The update comes nine months after the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires first ignited. Altogether, the Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire and the smaller nearby blazes burned over 57,000 acres, destroyed more than 18,000 structures and killed at least 31 people (with some attributed deaths ranging up to 440).
More than 200,000 locals were forced to evacuate from their Southern California homes throughout January, with the fires ultimately causing billions of dollars’ worth of economic damage.
Palisades Fire victims and witnesses are encouraged to contact the ATF’s assistance program via email through palisades@atf.gov.
