Preserving The Stories Of Altadena's Trees After The Eaton Fire

Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, October 9, 2025…

• When you talk about Altadena, you can’t not talk about its trees. It’s why one young Altadenan is documenting the stories of the community’s trees in the wake of the Eaton Fire. 
• A 29-year-old man has been arrested for starting a fire that eventually became the deadly Palisades Fire.

This Young Altadenan Wants To Preserve The Stories Of Altadena’s Trees

Mona Patterson walks across the dirt lot that once was her family’s home in west Altadena. “It’s just nice seeing some of the plants that we planted are growing back,” she says, leaning down to touch the leaves of a small lemon tree. “This is our lemon tree that we had —  it was here when we moved here, and it was one of our favorite things.”

The tree — once a source for homemade lemon meringue pies and lemon bars — burned in the Eaton Fire. But to Patterson’s surprise, it’s sprouting again. “And it’s like brand new in a baby size, so that’s really cute,” she says. “So hopefully we can keep this when we rebuild.”

The 22-year-old grew up here and has deep roots in the community. She, her twin sister and parents lived right around the corner from her grandparents, who bought their home in 1973 when they moved from Louisiana. “Family living close by was one of the main reasons my parents decided to live here,” Patterson says. The Eaton Fire took both family homes.

And as the rebuilding begins for her family and others, Patterson is collecting the stories of Altadena’s trees. For the seven months, she’s interviewed neighbors about their relationships with trees that survived — or that died in the fire or the subsequent debris removal. Patterson recently graduated from Chapman University with a degree in journalism and environmental science. Telling these stories from her community was fitting. “With these tree stories, I was like, ‘Oh, I bet my neighbors have something similar where they have a tree that was either part of their children’s childhood or their reason why they wanted to move here,” she says.

Uber Driver Charged In Connection With Starting The Palisades Fire

Nine months after the Palisades Fire erupted, killing 12 people and destroying more than 6,800 structures, authorities announced that they’ve arrested and charged 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht in connection with starting the deadly blaze.

Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Rinderknecht was arrested Tuesday in Florida. He has been charged with destruction of property by means of fire, which is a felony that carries a minimum sentence of five years in federal prison.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been investigating since January and has determined that it was a reignition of an earlier fire. Officials said at a news conference Wednesday that Rinderknecht started that fire six days earlier while working as an Uber driver — around midnight on Jan. 1 — after dropping off a passenger.

The 8-acre Lachman Fire didn’t spread far, as L.A. city and county helicopters made water drops and hand crews cut a fire line, helping to contain the blaze before moving on to mop up. Firefighters then patrolled the burned area to extinguish smoldering stumps, logs and piles of ash, as there was a risk of reignition later. That’s exactly what appears to have happened.