Congressman Brad Sherman Statement on Arrest Regarding Ignition of Palisades Fire

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA – Today, Congressman Brad Sherman (CA-32) issued the following statement on the arrest made in connection with the ignition of the Palisades Fire:

“I commend the ATF for a careful investigation into the cause of the devastating Palisades fire. I have been urging them for some time to carry out a full and expeditious investigation.

Jonathan Rinderknecht should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Whether he envisioned the level of destruction that occurred, if he set the fire he is fully responsible for all the destruction. Of course, our judicial system requires the prosecutor to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 

As the Member of Congress for the Pacific Palisades, I've been devastated by the hundreds of stories I've heard of people uprooted, and the lives and livelihoods lost. It is particularly devastating to see that the fire was apparently set deliberately.

We need to remember that in January the Los Angeles area faced a hundred fires whipped up by unprecedented 100 mph winds. Our firefighters extinguished 98 of those fires without major damage.

I will continue to fight for increased levels of federal grants and loans to those who lost so much in the Los Angeles fires, and will continue to work with Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Adam Schiff, Congresswoman Judy Chu and the entire California delegation.”

###