LOS ANGELES—Explosives and arson experts from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms this week told a jury in the federal arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht that fireworks could not have been the culprit.
The 29-year-old Rinderknecht is accused of starting a blaze in the Santa Monica Mountains, which investigators say led to the deadly Palisades Fire of 2025.
“Anyone who was in this area—if there was a firework launched, burning, or landing here—would have seen it. They’re bright, there’s a lot of color, a lot of flame, a lot of stars. And you would definitely hear it,” Kevin Miner, an explosives enforcement officer and unit chief at the agency’s training facility in Huntsville, Alabama, told the court….