00:00 It's a blaze burnt into the state's memory. The Woorooloo bushfires raised almost 11,000
00:07 hectares and destroyed 86 houses, including Jessica Blackwell's home in Gidji Gannup after
00:12 she was forced to evacuate and could not return.
00:15 By the time it crossed 2J Road it was moving so quickly that they had already closed the
00:20 roads and there wasn't that much of an opportunity, which is a bit different to normal. And then
00:26 it all happened very fast from there.
00:31 But charges against Daniel Gunter Pruce, the man who was accused of starting the fire when
00:35 he used an angle grinder during a total fire ban, have now been dropped. Mr Pruce was due
00:40 to stand trial next week, but in court the prosecutor said as a result of further policed
00:44 investigations the state considers there are no longer reasonable prospects of a conviction
00:49 because it can't be established he lit the fire and caused the damage.
00:52 The recovery process has been gruelling for Jessica Blackwell, but she's been in her new
00:56 house for a year, unlike many others.
00:59 Now when I think about the fire, where my thoughts go to are the people that still are
01:08 without a home, that haven't been able to rebuild for whatever reason and a lot of it
01:14 is not for lack of trying.
01:16 WA police say they're still treating the cause of the blaze as deliberate and they will investigate
01:21 any new information uncovered during the court process.
01:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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