Federal prosecutors in the United States have accused 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht of deliberately starting the Palisades Fire, which grew into one of the most destructive in the history of Los Angeles, California. Opening statements were presented on Wednesday in Rinderknecht’s federal trial.

Rinderknecht stands accused of destroying property by means of fire, committing arson affecting interstate commerce, and lighting timber aflame. He has pleaded not guilty to starting the fire in January 2025.

While prosecutors portrayed him as an arsonist who premeditated his crime, defence lawyers argued there was no proof that he had ignited the blazes. “When all the evidence is in, there will be one thing missing: proof that Jonathan Rinderknecht started that fire on January 1,” lawyer Steve Haney told jurors.

The Palisades Fire ultimately killed 12 people and left swaths of the coastline north of Los Angeles unrecognisable. If convicted, Rinderknecht would face at least five years in prison, with a maximum sentence of 45 years.

Prosecutors say that the fire began on January 1, 2025, smouldering in root systems before flaring into a significant conflagration on January 7. They argue that evidence places Rinderknecht on the hilltop where the fire allegedly started, including his cell phone data and a ChatGPT search query describing a “burning forest” and “people running away”. “He wanted revenge – revenge against society,” said prosecutor Matt O’Brien.

But Rinderknecht’s defence team argued that he was trying to help extinguish the fire, calling firefighters 16 times and guiding them to the site. Haney played segments of Rinderknecht’s 911 calls as evidence. “It’s the voice and actions of a man who was trying to stop the fire,” Haney said.

Factors such as extreme drought, worsened by climate change, have exacerbated wildfires in California. The Palisades Fire reached a peak of more than 23,000 acres, becoming the ninth deadliest and third most destructive in state history.

Source: www.aljazeera.com