Parts of Western Australia are currently facing an “extreme” heat wave as a result the risk of fires increases in the vast state, the national weather service said.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued an “extreme heatwave warning” for the remote Pilbara and Gascoyne regions of Australia’s largest state, saying temperatures could well exceed 40C over the weekend.

In the Pilbara mining town of Paraburdus, about 1,500km north of the state capital Perth, a maximum temperature of 47 degrees Celsius is forecast for Saturday, more than six degrees above the average maximum temperature for January, according to forecast data. The temperature had reached 42.7 degrees Celsius there at 05:00 Greek time.

The hottest temperature ever recorded in Australia was 50.7 degrees Celsius which showed the thermometer at Onslow Airport in the Pilbara on 13 January 2022.

The heat increases the risk of wildfires breaking out at a time of already high fire risk amid the El Niño weather phenomenon commonly associated with extreme events such as wildfires, cyclones and droughts.

“Very hot and dry conditions combined with southerly winds and up to strong westerly to south-westerly sea breezes will lead to an increased fire risk on Saturday,” the forecast bulletin on the weather service’s website said, referring to part of the Pilbara.

Earlier this month, hundreds of firefighters battled to bring a blaze near Perth under control amid high temperatures that prompted residents to evacuate.

Australia’s last two fire seasons are relatively milder compared to the 2019-2020 “Black Summer” fires that ravaged an area the size of Turkey, killing 33 people, three billion animals and trillions of invertebrates.