A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A 29-year-old man is in federal custody in Florida, accused of setting what wound up becoming the Palisades Fire in southern California. Now, that fire from January destroyed more than 6,000 structures and is blamed for the deaths of 12 people. Joining us now from Los Angeles is Steve Futterman. Steve, the suspect is charged with setting a fire that became the Palisades Fire. So explain that.
STEVE FUTTERMAN, BYLINE: Well, the federal complaint charges Jonathan Rinderknecht with setting a different fire in the early hours of January 1 in the foothills in Pacific Palisades. It says he was an Uber driver and had dropped off some passengers nearby. Now, fire crews did respond. And while they did put out visible flames from that fire, the fire was not totally extinguished. Listen to the acting U.S. attorney here in LA, Bill Essayli.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BILL ESSAYLI: Although firefighters suppressed the blaze, the fire continued to smolder and burn underground until on January 7, heavy winds caused this underground fire to surface and spread above ground, causing what became known as the Palisades Fire.
FUTTERMAN: And just a reminder of what happened next, here is a man I spoke with in Pacific Palisades the morning after the fire began, Alexander Kostadinov (ph). He was overwhelmed as he saw his fitness center destroyed.
ALEXANDER KOSTADINOV: It's like war zone. It's a disaster. It looks like the end of the world. Looks like an atomic attack. It's horrible.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, it was absolutely horrible. Steve, what evidence do prosecutors have?
FUTTERMAN: Well, of course, Jonathan Rinderknecht is innocent until proven guilty. But law enforcement officials say they have lots of evidence. This includes cellphone tracking data that places him within feet of the place where the fire was ignited at the time it began. Kenny Cooper is with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
KENNY COOPER: We processed hundreds of acres of damaged fire, examining every inch. Over the course of the last eight months, investigators conducted hundreds of interviews. We collected more than 13,000 items of evidence.
FUTTERMAN: And prosecutors revealed a couple pieces of those evidence items. They show that the suspect had an unusual interest in fires. One are AI-generated designs showing a city burning. Also, prosecutors say the suspect listened repeatedly in the days before the fire to a French rap song. The music video of that song shows a trash can being set ablaze. Now, the suspect appeared briefly in court yesterday. He is set to be back today for a detention hearing. Messages seeking comment from the federal public defender representing Rinderknecht were not returned.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, so that's the Palisades Fire. But at the same time, there was a second fire in the LA area, the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California. Where are officials on determining the cause of that one?
FUTTERMAN: Well, in the Eaton Fire, the federal civil lawsuit has been filed against Southern California Edison. The government claims Edison was negligent in maintaining power and transmission lines. It's generally believed that sparks from those lines ignited the Eaton Fire. Southern California Edison has offered settlements to some of those homeowners who lost their homes but has not accepted responsibility.
MARTÍNEZ: That's reporter Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. Steve, thank you.
FUTTERMAN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
