Deadly Palisades Fire set ‘maliciously’ by Florida firebug Jonathan Rinderknecht, feds say

LOS ANGELES — A 29-year-old Biden-supporting Uber driver obsessed with images of fire has been charged with setting a blaze that later grew into the Palisades Fire, authorities said Wednesday — nine months after the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history erupted.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is accused of “maliciously” sparking a brush fire on Jan. 1. That fire was knocked down by the Los Angeles fire department, but continued to smolder unnoticed, underground for days before high winds rekindled it into the raging Palisades inferno, federal prosecutors said.

The Palisades Fire left 12 people dead, destroyed nearly 7,000 homes and businesses and caused about $150 billion in damages.

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Rinderknecht, who lived in the area at some point, allegedly ignited the flames near a popular hiking trail in the hillside of a state park at about 12:12 a.m. on New Year’s Day – just moments after dropping off his Uber passengers nearby, federal prosecutors said.

The passengers later recalled Rinderknecht appearing “agitated and angry,” the feds said.

After arriving at the hiking trail, Rinderknecht allegedly filmed the scene on his phone and listened to the rap song “Un Zder, Un The,” by French artist Josman, whose music video features him setting a series of blazes, the criminal complaint said.

Google records showed that Rinderknecht, born in France, had listened to the song nine times and watched the music video four times in the days leading up to the fire, according to court papers. 

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Translated lyrics from the French song include, “Daily life is killing me,” “I feel like I’m nowhere,” and “too much bitterness in my head, I think about the mistakes we made.”

In the 2018 music video, Josman is seen smoking a blunt in his kitchen, which then sparks a blaze throughout the apartment. 

At another point in the video, Josman is seen lighting a burning barrel outside a housing project, which becomes a huge inferno. The rapper is later captured walking with a handful of blazing banknotes in his hand.

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Rinderknecht is believed to have watched his fire burn for about a minute before fleeing down the hiking trail, where he made a three-minute video recording of himself attempting to call 911 several times to report the blaze. 

As he was on the phone to dispatchers, he typed “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes” into ChatGPT – which was also captured in the screen recording, the complaint charges.

Rinderknecht allegedly drove away from the scene but turned around to follow the responding fire trucks back to the scene – where he then watched and recorded several videos as crews battled the inferno, according to the complaint. 

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“Based on my training and experience, arsonists sometimes call 911 to report the fires they have set, and arsonists sometimes like to watch firefighters respond to the fires that they have set,” an investigator notes in the charging docs.

The videos were among a trove of evidence discovered on Rinderknecht’s phone in the aftermath of the wildfire, authorities said.    

Months before the blaze, in July, Rinderknecht had ChatGPT-generated a grim “dystopian” image of a burning city, according to the criminal complaint.

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In the ChatGPT prompt, he requested: “A dystopian painting divided into distinct parts that blend together seamlessly. On the far left, there is a burning forest. Next to it, a crowd of people is running away from the fire, leading to the middle,” the complaint said.

Months later, in November, Rinderknecht told ChatGPT that he had “literally burnt” a Bible – boasting that he felt “amazing” and “so liberated” afterwards. 

The Palisades Fire erupted around the same time as the Eaton Fire, which killed 19 people, but authorities haven’t yet disclosed a cause for that inferno.

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Both fires crippled the region for weeks – reducing entire neighborhoods to ash.

Rinderknecht was interviewed by investigators shortly after the blaze but allegedly lied to investigators at the time about his location, according to the complaint.

During the Jan. 24 interview, Rinderknecht had told investigators where the fire began, which was information that hadn’t yet been made public and that he wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t witnessed it, the complaint said.

He allegedly lied about his location, claiming he was near the bottom of the hiking trail at the time, the feds said.

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During the interview, Rinderknecht’s “carotid artery would pulsate and become visible” whenever he was asked about the fire – indicating he was “extremely anxious,” the docs state. 

The accused arsonist also confessed to bringing a lighter up the trail – and investigators later found a green BBQ-style lighter in his car’s glove compartment that matched photos taken at his home just days earlier, authorities alleged. 

He was finally arrested in Florida on Tuesday and will now be transferred back to California to stand trial. 

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Records show Rinderknecht was registered to vote in Florida, though he never declared a political party.

He did however donate $2 – a dollar days apart on two separate occasions in September 2020 –according to the Federal Election Commission.

Rinderknecht’s former Los Angeles neighbors told The Post that the accused firestarter used to live in a third floor apartment in The Villas on Sycamore, just one block north of bustling Hollywood Boulevard near the Chinese Theatre.

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They described him as polite, quiet, and someone who mostly kept to himself – leaving them stunned upon learning he was accused of causing such massive destruction. 

“Wow, that’s crazy,” Peter Cheng, 39, said in disbelief, adding that he used to live across the corridor from Rinderknecht.

“He was actually a really nice guy. He was really quiet. I didn’t know what he did. He just kept to himself. He didn’t seem like an off kid at all. But sometimes when people are really quiet you have no idea what’s going on in their head.” 

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Cheng noted that Rinderknecht was the only resident in the building with a keypad on their door – and mentioned that he drove a “normal four-door car.”

The new tenant living in the Rinderknecht’s old pad said he moved in back in August and still gets mail addressed to the accused firebug. 

Rinderknecht, who officials said has no criminal history, faces charges including malicious destruction by means of a fire.

The finding that the Palisades Fire was intentionally set could allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

Federal arson charges already carry harsh mandatory minimum sentences that range from five to 20 years, but are even stricter if it leads to injury or death.

A detention hearing is scheduled in US District Court in Orlando, Florida, Thursday morning.

Additional reporting by David Propper

With Post wires