The man accused of sparking the flames that burned swaths of Los Angeles posted on social media about how climate change causes wildfires.
The New York Post reported that Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, regularly posted on Facebook about eco-apocalypses, mocked President Donald Trump and his supporters, and promoted veganism.
One article he shared — "Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration" from ProPublica — featured an image of California wildfires.
The 2020 story discussed record West Coast heat, eerily similar to the situation Rinderknecht is accused of creating himself on Jan. 1, when he allegedly hiked into the hills above Los Angeles and started a brush fire.
Prosecutors say the blaze was never fully extinguished and six days later reignited, burning nearly 24,000 acres, killing 12 people, and destroying over 7,000 homes and businesses — with damage estimated at $150 billion.
Other posts on Rinderknecht's Facebook page included photos mocking Trump supporters after the 2020 election, links to a Harris-Biden fundraiser page, and articles pushing climate alarmism.
Among them:
"Senator Kamala Harris Says Meat is Destroying the Planet" (Livekindly.com).
"Antarctica's Ice Shelves Have Lost Millions of Metric Tons of Ice" (Scientific American).
"A Shift to Plant-Based Diets Would Create 19 Million Jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean" (Forbes).
A post from then-candidate Joe Biden asserting that Trump "inherited a healthy economy from Obama" but "destroyed it" during COVID-19.
One of the few photos of Rinderknecht showed him wild-eyed with his face painted like a skull, mouth open and covered in blood. Prosecutors say he also used artificial intelligence to generate disturbing images of burning cities and crowds fleeing destruction.
Rinderknecht was living in Los Angeles when he allegedly started the fire and moved back to his family home in Florida soon after. He reportedly filmed the blaze, reported it to authorities, and returned to watch firefighters battle it.
Investigators have not yet determined what sparked a second blaze that erupted the same day in Altadena, killing 18 people.
The fires raged for days, leveling neighborhoods and leaving nothing but rubble behind.
An independent review released in September concluded that insufficient resources and outdated emergency alert policies caused significant delays in evacuation warnings.
Rinderknecht remains held without bail in Orlando.
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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