A 29-year-old man has been charged with starting a deadly fire that turned into the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history and destroyed much of the wealthy Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

The Palisades fire killed 12 and destroyed more than 6,800 homes and buildings.

Jonathan Rinderknecht is accused of lighting a fire on New Year’s Day that was put out initially, but continued to smolder underground and then reignited during high winds.

SOUNDBITE (English) Bill Essayli, Acting U.S. Attorney for Central District of California:

“The allegations in the affidavit are supported by digital evidence including the defendant’s ChatGPT prompt of a dystopian painting showing in part a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it.”

According to authorities Rinderknecht is said to have fled the scene of the original fire but returned to the same trail where he’d been earlier to watch it burn. They also said he lied about his location in an interview with investigators.

Authorities still haven’t determined the cause of a second blaze called the Eaton Fire, which broke out the same day in the community of Altadena and killed 19 people.

Both fires burned for days, reducing block after block of entire neighborhoods to gray and black debris.