Temperatures nudged 40C in the northwest, other areas hit the mid-30s and Brisbane recorded more than 32C as the conditions that had baked southern states and fanned fire conditions made their presence felt in Queensland.

Among the hottest places were Julia Creek in the northwest with 39.3C and Winton in the central west at 39.1C, while parts of central and southern Queensland went as high as the mid-30s on Thursday afternoon.

Near the NSW border, Coolangatta had its warmest September day on record after reaching 33.9C, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Meteorology.

Elsewhere in the southeast, Gatton reached a top of 35.9C, Ipswich hit 35.5C, and it was 32.5C on the Gold Coast.

The above-average temperatures brought a high fire danger, with dozens of blazes across the state, including six that were out of control on Thursday afternoon.

Four of the blazes were in southeast Queensland, in Dalby, Ebenezer, Rockside and Bahrs Scrub, with the others in Watalgan in Wide Bay and Oxford in central Queensland.

Ninety vehicles and 17 aircraft were fighting fires across the state, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services state co-ordinator Simon Evans said.

Earlier on Thursday, acting deputy commissioner John Cawcutt said the state was “seeing high and very high fire danger indexes” after high temperatures and low humidity fuelled fires in the past week.

“We’ve had an enormous number of crews – volunteer rural fire brigades, as well as Fire and Rescue Service crews – working along with Parks and Forestry to maintain the fires within the areas of containment,” he said.

Winds had eased in some areas and firefighters were waiting for easier conditions when a cool change was forecast to move across the state in the evening.

Fire crews were mindful of the stronger winds that would come with the change, Mr Evans said, and he urged the community to remain vigilant.

BOM senior meteorologist Harry Clark said a “very vigorous” southeasterly cool change would arrive in the state’s southeast in the evening, with the mercury set to plunge up to 10C and stay that way at the weekend.

Unseasonably warm conditions have helped bring an early start to the bushfire season and given authorities a potential taste of the summer ahead after the bureau this week officially declared an El Nino weather pattern.

The spring heat began at the weekend when a trough pulled hot air building up in the country’s interior across the southeastern states and on to Queensland.

The air mass brought temperatures 10C to 15C above the September average and left firefighters scrambling to contain blazes from Tasmania to Queensland.

Meanwhile, pilot Grant Schultz, who escaped with scratches after his helicopter crashed into a dam while fighting a bushfire west of Brisbane, has told how he had to try a number of doors before escaping the wreckage.

“I’m not a very good swimmer and I’m not very good at holding my breath,” he told reporters on Thursday.

“That point where I had one door left – I started to have a little bit of a realisation that was my last chance.”

Mr Schultz credited ongoing underwater recovery training for his survival.

“It was definitely scary at the end … the training probably saved my life,” he said.

The helicopter was collecting water for water-bombing a blaze when the crash happened at a private property at Tarome in the Scenic Rim on Thursday.