A 29-year-old man accused of starting a New Year's Day brush fire on the Los Angeles County coast that eventually became the deadly Palisades Fire a few days later has been arrested in Florida, authorities announced Wednesday.

The suspect was identified as Jonathan Rinderknecht, a former Pacific Palisades resident living in Florida who is charged by federal prosecutors with destruction of property by means of fire. Rinderknecht ignited a New Year's Day fire that smoldered for days in the dense root structure in the LA County coastal community before it was re-ignited and fanned by powerful winds on the morning of Jan. 7 to become one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in county history, authorities said at a Wednesday news conference .

Rinderknecht was arrested Tuesday a

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