Palisades Residents: Arrest of Alleged Arsonist Raises More Questions About Fire Response

Residents of the Pacific Palisades reacted Wednesday to news of the arrest of an alleged arsonist in the January 7 Palisades Fire by noting that the arrest raises more questions about city and state fire responses.

As Breitbart News noted, federal authorities arrested Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, of Melbourne, Florida, who allegedly set a fire above the town on New Year’s Day that later re-ignited in high winds as the Palisades Fire.

Governor Gavin Newsom said that the arrest would begin to bring “closure” to residents. But residents did not agree, with many pointing out that the fire smoldered on state land for nearly a week, and that local firefighters were not pre-positioned in the area ahead of expected extreme high winds on January 7.

The Los Angeles Times reported:

“I think this is only going to infuriate people, to be honest,” [resident Jon] Brown said. “They think that they have done something by finding the guy who did it, but they’re really going to fan the flames on what everybody is really pissed about.
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“Any information that helps determine the cause of the fire and helps prevent future fires is obviously important to have,” [resident Darrin Hurwitz] added, “but in this case, the determination that the fire was a rekindling of a small fire that was purportedly extinguished six days before raises far more question than answers. What protocols were in place for ensuring the Lachman fire was fully extinguished? Were they followed? Were resources adequately deployed to the area on Jan. 7 given the extreme wind warnings?”

He said he hopes that “fire detection has to be taken more seriously and pre-deployment of resources has to really be a focus,” and that any fires should be “fully extinguished and monitored.”