The shocking case of LA's zombie' fire and the young man at the center of it

"Jonathan Rinderknecht, a 29-year-old occasional Uber driver who used to live in Pacific Palisades, was charged with three felonies by federal prosecutors in October, who claim he was in the neighborhood in the early hours of New Year's Day. According to a federal complaint, Rinderknecht allegedly used an open flame likely a lighter to start a small blaze that grew to about 8 acres (3.2 hectares) before firefighters rushed to the area and extinguished it. That blaze was known as the Lachman fire."

"But on 7 January, just five days after the Los Angeles fire department (LAFD) said they had put the Lachman fire out, the embers were whipped into a frenzy by 100mph (161km/h) winds and fed by tinderbox conditions quickly growing to become the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history. It was a wildfire known as a holdover or zombie fire, a type of blaze that scientists say is becoming more common as the climate warms."

"Aya Gruber, a criminal law expert and the Harold Medill Heimbaugh professor of law at the University of Southern California, says the outcome will depend on how responsible a jury would deem Rinderknecht for the ultimate deaths of 12 people and the loss of 7,000 structures in what became the Palisades fire. If a person sets a fire and it burns continuously, that is generally considered one fire in the eyes of the law."

Prosecutors charged Jonathan Rinderknecht with three felonies, alleging he used an open flame to start the Lachman fire, which burned about 8 acres before being extinguished. Five days later, embers from that blaze were fanned by 100mph winds and tinderbox conditions, producing a holdover or "zombie" fire that became the most destructive in Los Angeles history. The resulting Palisades fire caused 12 deaths and destroyed roughly 7,000 structures. Legal proceedings will hinge on whether the initial ignition should have foreseen the catastrophic risk and whether the burning was continuous or a separate, agency-related failure to fully extinguish embers.

Read at www.theguardian.com