A 29-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, Oct. 7, on suspicion of igniting a blaze that led to the Palisades fire — which killed 12 people and damaged or destroyed thousands of structures during an uncommon windstorm that swept through Southern California, federal authorities announced on Wednesday, Oct. 8, in a downtown Los Angeles press conference.

Jonathan Rinderknecht was charged in a federal complaint with starting the Lachman fire, a small blaze in the Pacific Palisades area, on New Year’s Day, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said.

Despite the fire being put out by firefighters, it “continued to smolder and burn underground within the root structure of the dense vegetation” — reigniting on Jan. 7 during heavy winds to become the Palisades fire, “one of the most destructive fires in Los

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