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Palisades resident reacts to arrest in fire investigation
Blake Mallen, a Pacific Palisades resident who lost his home in the destructive blaze, provided an update and shared his reaction to the arrest in the fire investigation.
LOS ANGELES - Blake Mallen and his family are still picking up the pieces after losing their home in the destructive Palisades Fire.
Not only did they lose their home, but his children were also displaced from their schools. Since then, he has become an advocate for recovery and accountability.
What they're saying:
On Thursday, Mallen was a guest on Good Day LA. Back in February, he was joined by Good Day LA anchor Jenn Lahmers after his family returned to what was once their home. Mallen shared that after it was announced an arrest had been made in the fire investigation, it opened up old wounds and took him back to that gut-wrenching day.
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Family visits home burned in Palisades Fire
A Pacific Palisades family shared a gut-wrenching moment when they saw the ruins of what was once their home for the first time.
"A lot of the emotion obviously brought me right back to the moments on Jan. 7 and 8," he said. "The world and the conversation continue to move on from us from the Palisades. We’re still in it. We’re still fighting," Mallen said.
Lahmers was the one who informed Mallen about the arrest of 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht, and as he caught up with the investigation, he shared what left him stunned.
"It was that ChatGPT image… and just how real that was. It reminded me instantly of the phone call from my son calling me in the middle of the day running to a bus as he was watching flames. Me navigating my wife in the car on the phone as she was literally [navigating] the fire flames and cars until she was on the side," he recalled. "To think that all this pain, my loss, [the] loss of thousands of families was somebody’s fantasy."
Shocking discovery
Come to find out, Rinderknecht lived nearby.
"I searched the name, put together the address, cross-checked the articles… and sure enough… I was a block up. I walked by that house most mornings on the way to the same trail and I walked my kids by that. We had to have crossed paths like you do with any of your neighbors," Mallen said.
"I was in shock," Mallen stated. "Like, could this be literally someone that was that adjacent to our whole community right to the very point right around the corner where all this ignited?"
Questions remain
Mallen said having someone in custody doesn’t erase the pain and devastation he’s endured.
"That doesn’t solve the problem. If anything… it’s that they’re tying Jan. 7 to Jan. 1," he said, while continuing to share his frustration that crews didn’t continue to monitor hot spots.
"What could they have done in six days knowing there’s a fire, knowing it hasn’t been cleared, knowing there is brush, knowing the wind is coming, knowing all of this? And yet, we didn’t have time to inspect, manage, act at a city, at a state level, to do the things," he added.
"My fear is that this attention takes the spotlight off the change that actually needs to happen to fix what caused the issue and what has to change to prevent this from happening for communities and families like mine in the future," Mallen concluded.
What's next:
Rinderknecht, who has since relocated to Central Florida, where he was taken into custody.
The 29-year-old has been charged with destruction of property by means of fire.
RELATED COVERAGE:
- Man accused of starting deadly Palisades Fire arrested
- Jonathan Rinderknecht: Palisades Fire suspect denied bond
- Jonathan Rinderknecht: What we know about the man accused in the Palisades Fire
The Source: This story was written from Blake Mallen's live interview on Good Day LA on October 9, 2025.