Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The man suspected of deliberately causing one of the deadliest fires in California history pleaded not guilty when he appeared in court on Thursday. Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is charged with deliberately starting a blaze in the hills above the wealthy Los Angeles enclave of Pacific Pallisades early on New Year’s morning. Prosecutors say that fire was initially suppressed by firefighters, but was rekindled by powerful winds a week later, growing into an inferno that tore through some of America’s most desirable real estate.
A separate blaze, likely started by a fault in the electrical distribution system, began almost at the same time near the Altadena neighborhood. The two huge fires burned for weeks, and together killed 31 people, as they left thousands more homeless and laid waste to thousands of acres (hectares). Rinderknecht, wearing white jail garb with a chain around his waist, told US Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver he understood the charges of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and timber set afire. He denied them all.
If convicted of the three federal charges, Rinderknecht would face up to 45 years in prison, prosecutors said. Rinderknecht, who remains in federal custody, was ordered to return to court on November 12, with a trial tentatively set for December 16. The two major fires that gripped the Los Angeles area in January were among the deadliest in California history. They were also among the costliest natural disasters ever, with estimates of damage running into hundreds of billions of dollars.
Firefighters struggled for days to contain the blazes, hampered by winds up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour that prevented their using helicopters and planes. The sheer scale of the inferno created difficulties, as did an urban water supply that was never designed to cope with such enormous conflagrations. Rinderknecht’s arrest in Florida this month came after a lengthy investigation into the cause of the Pallisades Fire.
In July, the Southern California Edison power company said it would begin paying compensation to those affected by the Eaton Fire that devastated Altadena. While no official cause of the fire has been revealed yet, the finger of blame has been pointing for months at a power line in the hills behind Altadena. Several videos and witness accounts suggest the equipment produced sparks that could have caused the fast-moving flames.
© 2024 AFP
