Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is posed after his arrest on charges that he intentionally ignited the Pacific Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, before his first court appearance in Orlando, Florida, U.S. October 8, 2025. Department of Justice/Handout via REUTERS

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A Florida man has been arrested on charges that he intentionally ignited the devastating Pacific Palisades Fire in Los Angeles that killed 12 people and wiped out neighborhoods at the start of the year, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.

Jonathan Rinderknecht is facing federal criminal charges related to the fire after an investigation by the Los Angeles field division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the Los Angeles Fire Department; and the Los Angeles Police Department.

He was arrested in Florida on Tuesday and will be transferred back to the Central District of California to stand trial, Bill Essayli, the acting U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, told reporters.

Rinderknecht started the fire after finishing his shift as an Uber driver, Essayli alleged. Videos of the fire taken on his cellphone and 911 calls were among the evidence connecting Rinderknecht to the fire, Essayli said.

The fire in the Palisades started in early January and scorched more than 23,000 acres (9,308 hectares). It was the most destructive fire in the city's history, destroying some 6,000 structures around Los Angeles, causing about $150 billion in damages.

Arson investigators determined that the fire started near a popular hiking trail on the hillside of a state park overlooking the Pacific Palisades overnight in early January. It ravaged large parts of the Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu before firefighters were finally able to contain the blaze about 24 days later.

The finding that the fire was intentionally set could allow the federal government to potentially seek the death penalty.

Federal arson charges carry harsh mandatory minimum sentences that range from five to 20 years.

The sentences are even stricter if the arson leads to injury or death, in which case the government can seek up to life in prison or the federal death penalty.

U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office in January directing the attorney general to "pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use."

The ATF is the lead federal law enforcement agency that investigates the cause of fires.

Its National Response Team has probed a total of 927 incidents since the late 1970s, including an investigation into the origin and cause of the deadly August 2023 fire in Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii that killed more than 100 people.

In that case, ATF determined the fire started after broken power lines re-energized, sending sparks that ignited overgrown brush near a utility pole.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; editing by Scott Malone and Richard Chang and Aurora Ellis)