A Perth man has been charged with manslaughter over a bush fire explosion which killed a 23-year-old man who had gone to inspect the blaze while four-wheel-driving with friends.

Father-to-be Jack Kinneen, of Heathridge, was killed on September 22 while driving on dirt tracks with a group of friends near Pinjar shortly after midnight.

WA Police deputy commissioner Allan Adams said the victim did not know the person who lit the fire, and that it was just tragic happenstance that he went to inspect it.

“As Jack was walking towards it, the gas cylinder exploded and a fragment of that has hit him and he’s passed away,” he told Radio 6PR.

“Inquiries and information we received yesterday put the 38-year-old man as being the one responsible.

“What will be alleged by the police is the gas cylinder was placed on the fire.”

Kinneen died at the scene despite desperate attempts by his six friends to same him.

On Tuesday police appealed to the public to identify two people seen in the area around the time of the fire.

The accused man, from Banksia Grove, is due to appear in Joondalup Magistrates Court on Wednesday after being arrested on Tuesday.

More to come

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