A 29-year-old Uber driver obsessed with dystopian imagery, “despair and bitterness” is charged with “maliciously” sparking the Palisades Fire, authorities said Wednesday — nine months after the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history erupted. Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is accused of setting a brush fire Jan. 1 that was put out, but then smoldered unnoticed underground for days before igniting the raging Palisades inferno, which left 12 people dead and caused about $150 billion in damages.

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