An Arrest Has Just Been Made In One Of Two Huge, Deadly January L.A. Wildfires

Jonathan Rindernecht, 29, was arrested in Florida
Tuesday, charged with setting the Palisades Fire
in California.. That was one of two deadly and 
extremely destructive wildfires in
Los Angeles County back in January. 

A Florida man was arrested Wednesday for starting the Palisades Fire, one of two horrific wildfires that tore through Los Angeles County, California in January. 

Beginning on January 7, the two fires combined killed more than 30 people and caused massive destruction in southern California. 

One of the two fires, the Palisades Fire, killed 12 people and damaged or destroyed 8,000 structures in and around Pacific Palisades, California. That's the one Jonathan Rindernecht, 29 of Florida is accused of sparking. 

Prosecutors said Rinderknecht actually allegedly started the fire in the hours before dawn on January 1, after spending New Year's Eve as an Uber driver in the area. 

We learned in mid-January that the fire initially started on January 1. It erupted on Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains and firefighters rushed to the scene, called it the Lachman Fire, and managed to contain the fire to eight acres.

They thought it was out, but smoldering embers that were probably semi-buried re-activated on January 7 when Santa Ana winds gusting as high as 100 mph began blasting over the region. 

ABC7 in Los Angeles picks up the story for us:

"(Acting U.S. Attorney) Bill Essayli said two of his passengers told law enforcement that he appeared agitated and angry that night. After he dropped off a passenger in the Pacific Palisades, Essayli said Rindernecht parked his car and tried but failed to contact a former friend. 

Then, Rinderknecht exited his car, walked up a trail, took iPhone videos from a nearby hilltop and listen to a rap song, whose music video included objects being lit on fire.'"

Prosecutors go on:

"After the Lachman Fire ignited, Rindernecht called 911 to report the blaze, fled the scene in his car but turned around when he saw fire engines approach, Essayli said.

'While the Lachman fire burned, the defendant walked up the same trail as earlier that night to watch the fire and firefighters,' Essayli said, adding that Rinderknecht recorded video of the scene using his iPhone."

ABC 7 describes the investigation:

"During an interview Jan. 2, Rinderknecht told investigators where the fire began, information not yet public and that he would not have now if he hadn't witnessed it, the complaint said. He lied about his location, claiming he was near the bottom of the hiking trail." 

According to prosecutors, it looks like the suspect used a lighter to set paper or vegetation ablaze. Prosecutors said Rinderknecht's ChatGPT log shows he created an image depicting a burning forest and crowds fleeing it. 

Rinderknecht is originally from Pacific Palisades but was arrest near his home in Florida Tuesday. He was charged with destruction of property by means of fire. 

Reading between the lines, it looks like Rindernecht didn't intend to cause the death and destruction from the fire. After all, he was not charged with arson. However, prosecutors won't rule out more charges against him. If convicted, he could spend up to 20 years in prison. 

Frustratingly, but not surprisingly at this stage of the proceedings, we don't have a motive for the crime yet. 

The other big fire that day, the Eaton Fire, raced mostly through Alameda, California, killing at least 19 people and destroying at minimum 9,000 structures.  

The origin of the Eaton fire isn't clear, but might have started from arcing electrical lines. 

Climate change is widely believed to have made both January fires worse than they otherwise would have been. Dry conditions had continued well into what is normally the wet season, making the fires possible. 

 

 

Sure Enough, Lies About Federal Disaster Response Prompts Violence Threat, Interferes With Recovery

William Jacob Parsons, 44, was arrested for makimg
threats to FEMA workers trying to help
flood victims in North Carolina. 

 Sure enough, the toxic lies and conspiracy theories regarding the federal response to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina has interfered with those recovery efforts.  

Those relief efforts had to be temporarily shut down last weekend because of threats based on those lies, many of which were spread by our highly irresponsible (to put it mildly) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Makes you wonder if he really cares about the people he's selling his schtick to, huh?  By the way, read on as the story takes on a small twist. 

I did a deep dive into the falsehoods in an October 13 post and mentioned that the horrible people spreading them would interfere with relief efforts. 

As the Associated Press reported on Tuesday: 

"Over the weekend, reports emerged that workers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency could be targeted by militia as the government responds to Hurricane Helene. A sheriff's office said Monday that one man was arrested during the investigation, but that the suspect acted alone."

Earlier reports that a band of militia members were roving around and planning an attack, but that thankfully proved false. Still, that just added to the climate of fear federal worker and flood victims are dealing with on top of all the other chaos in the flood zone. 

As the Associated Press reports, an exasperated North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he's sure some people eligible for federal help are not applying due to lies spread by people who have an agenda other than helping flood victims.  

"'There's still a persistent and dangerous flow of misinformation about recovery efforts in western North Carolina that can lead to threats and intimidation, breeds confusion and demoralizes storm survivors and response workers alike,' Cooper said in a briefing. 'If you're participating in spreading this stuff, stop it. Whatever your aim is, the people you are hurting are those in western North Carolina who need help.'

'This is happening in the middle of an election where candidates are using people's misery to sow chaos for their own poltical objectives - and it's wrong,' he said."

Unfortunately, I'm sure the governor's words will fall on deaf ears as the gullible, angry believe anything you hear crowd is going to continue making everything worse for themselves and their neighbors. 

 The man who was arrested, William Jacob Parsons, 44, who was found armed with a handgun and a rifle. He was charged with something called going armed to the terror of the public. He was later released on $10,000 bond. 

 He actually agreed to talk with local television staton Fox 8 WGHP.

Apparently, Parsons bought the misinformation hook, line and sinker and spread it on Facebook, where he wrote, "We the people are sick and tired of the BS. We the people are seeking volunteers to join us and overtake the FEMA site in Lake Lure and send the products up the mountains this Saturday. We the people are done playing games. It's time to show who we are and what we believe. They want to screw our citizens. Now we return the favor."

Parsons told the television station he believed FEMA was failing people in need. "'I viewed it as if our people are sitting on American soil, and they're refusing to aid our people,' he said. 'So we were going to go up there and forcefully remove that fence.'"

Here's the small twist I referred to: Parsons said when he actually arrived, the reality was much different than advertised. He said he didn't really see anything untoward so he stayed and volunteered for the day.

If you take what Parsons said at face value, if he's telling the truth, it was another person who fell under the spell of Trump and figured out - too late - he's been lied to.

Because of his prior threats, law enforcement arrested Parsons at the scene. He insists he was only exercising his Second Amendment rights. He had one gun on him, and a rifle and a pistol in his vehicle. Parsons said they were all legally purchased.   

This will all get sorted out in court, I'm sure. 

Meanwhile, people are still making threats, thanks to the cynical actions of the liars out there lying. I'm guessing the goal is create conditions in which FEMA can't do their work, and then say, see, the current administration is a failure because FEMA is not doing their work.

In other words, some awful politicians are cruelly using flood victims in North Carolina as pawns.

You can't get any worse than that.  

 

 

 

QAnon Quebec Man Started Some Of Those Awful Wildfires Last Summer For Bizarre Reasons

Conspiracy theorist Brian Parè pleaded guilty to arson
charges. He set some of last June's wildfires in Quebec
to "prove" some sort of nefarious government plan
that he made up. 

 I'm sure you remember choking on wildfire smoke blowing down from Canada last spring and summer. 

I can now blame one particular nut job person for a little bit of that pollution that hazed out Vermont skies last June.

Meet Brian Parè, 38, who prosecutors said on May 31 and June 1  started 14 fires near Chapais, Quebec. about 260 miles northwest of Quebec City.

On those two days, hundreds of fires broke out across much of Quebec. An intense drought was ongoing. 

Most of the fires were sparked by lightning, and those strikes ignited the dry, vast forests of the region. The result was choking smoke blowing southward into New England. 

For reasons only Parè fully understands, he decided to augment the lightning and start his own fires. Two of the fires Parè set force the evacuation of about 500 homes around the town of Chapais.

As seems to be always the case, Parè is a QAnon nutcase. These are the people who were convinced Hillary Clinton and probably Tom Hanks were running a child sex trafficking ring out of the non-existent basement of a Washington DC pizza shop.

Anyway, Parè claimed on Facebook that the fires were deliberately set by the government to trick people into believing in climate change, CBC reported.

It's unclear why Parè started the fires when he believed the government was already doing so. 

Antihate.ca delved into Parè's social media posts and hoo-boy! 

Here's some examples, notes Antihate.ca: 

"'Our government and elite want it to burn," Parè wrote in a June 26 Facebook post, translated from French by Google. 'Not complicated. Since 2020, we are in a conspiracy of the new world order of 2030.'"

I'm not sure what Parè thinks is the new world order, but oh, wll.

Apparently, according to Perè, the Quebec drought that helped create the wildfires was not the work of climate change or random weather patterns. He explained: "It's NASA who controls the weather and our famous elites."

Parè also thinks that chemtrails are a thing, and he's also into a newer wacko idea called the 15-minute city.

To review, high-flying jets often create a narrow band of cirrus clouds behind them. Hot exhaust condenses into the cold air these aircraft fly through, forming the clouds. The wackos think these are "chemtrails," in which the government is seeding us with stuff to control our minds, or sterilize us for some reason or make us afraid, or........something like that, I guess.  

Haze from Quebec wildfires as seen at St. Albans Bay,
Vermont on June 5, 2023. A Quebec conspiracy
theorist set some of the fires, it turns out. 

The 15-minute city is a real concept, but not in the way that conspiracy nuts would have you believe. Fifteen minute city is an idea in which all urban amenities should be available within a 15 minute walk or bike ride. 

The weirdos like Parè think it's somehow a global plot to allow governments to control their population. 

I'm not sure how the convenience of reaching a subway or a bus stop within 15 minutes controls people like me, but I guess I think differently than these special people.   

 Pare has pleaded guilty to 13 counts of arson and one count of arson with disregard for human life, according to CBC.  He also tried to claim he set the fires to test whether the forests were dry or not. I guess he didn't think to dig into the soil a bit to see whether he came up with dust or mud, I don't know.

You know, I'm annoyed at Parè for setting those fires. And I've been bullying him pretty brutally here. But in a sense I feel for the guy.  I'm far more enraged at the proponents of these conspiracy theories who prey on the gullible, like Parè. 

Because those proponents aren't trying to help people like Parè. They're just trying to enrich themselves, leaving people like Parè as collateral damage that they don't care a whit about.  

I'm not convinced most of the people who promote all this QAnon conspiracy nonsense actually believe any of it. But there's money to be made by this, so they spread this garbage. 

Which becomes dangerous. What if one of the fires Perè set killed someone? But they don't care. Grifters gotta grift, right?