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 in a Wednesday morning press conference.

Despite the fire being put out, it “continued to smolder and burn underground within the root structure of the dense vegetation,” reigniting on Jan. 7 during heavy winds and becoming the Palisades fire, “one of the mos

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