Western Australia will need twice as many firefighters in 2030 to cope with increased bushfire risks caused by climate change, a report by the Climate Council has found.

The Heat Is On report, released on Tuesday, said south-western WA, one of the most fire-prone areas in the world, was on track to have twice as many days of severe fire danger per year by 2090, “if global carbon emissions are not reduced”.

“To stabilise the climate and eventually halt the rising trend of extreme heat, carbon emissions need to be cut rapidly and deeply,” the report said.

“Most of the world’s known reserves of coal, oil and gas will need to be left in the ground, including over 90% of Australia’s coal reserves.”

WA has had more than 1,000 reported bushfire incidents since 1 January.

On Tuesday afternoon an out-of-control bushfire at Casuarina, 40km south of Perth, was declared a threat to lives and homes by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (Dfes).

Incredible photo by Tanika Lee at Thomas Road overpass in Casuarina. #fire #perthnews pic.twitter.com/oqQhUvAfmp — John Dobson (@JohnnyDobson) February 24, 2015

Dfes has issued an emergency warning about the fire, which forced the closure of the Kwinana Freeway and halted trains.

Fire gaining momentum heading towards southern end of Treeby road Kwinana @9NewsPerth pic.twitter.com/5IUPUF7X7X — Oliver Peterson (@oliverpeterson) February 24, 2015

Residents in Casuarina, Anketell and Bertram were advised to leave their homes early, and those who are not at home were told it was not safe to return.

Climate Council member Will Steffen is one of the authors of the report and said it was a fluke that the report was launched on an unusually hot, bushfire-plagued day. The forecast for Perth on Tuesday was 41C.

Smoke in the area really picking up now. It sounds like a war zone out there. @perthnow #PerthNews pic.twitter.com/VvbLZml71N — Kristy Symonds (@TwistedKristy) February 24, 2015

But he said the report showed that periods of extreme heat were becoming more common, which was leading to severe bushfire conditions.

Steffen said the climate was changing so rapidly that it could make some people reconsider whether to live in parts of south-western WA that have been most plagued by bushfires, such as the Perth Hills or the Karri forests south of Margaret River.

That’s the area that burned in the 90,000 hectare Northcliffe bushfire three weeks ago, which firefighters told Guardian Australia was the biggest in WA’s recent history.

“Especially in the south-west, climate-related factors are going to be important factors in deciding where you are going to live,” Steffen said.

“You can’t assume, when you make that decision, that the climate is going to be the same as it was when you knew it 20 or 30 years ago, or when your parents live there.

“That’s going to be a tough place to live.”

WA has faced six major bushfires in the past eight years, including Northcliffe; the 2007 Boorabbin national park fire, in which three people died; the 2009 Toodyay bushfires; the 2011 and 2014 Perth Hills bushfire; and the 2011 Margaret River bushfires.

Steffen said the trends of a hotter and drier climate meant bushfire season in southern WA was stretching into spring and autumn, narrowing the window for fire management authorities to safely conduct prescribed burns.

But he said that bushfires were not the only risk.

The report said the number of heatwave days in WA had increased by 50% since 1950 and were occurring earlier in the summer. It also said the average intensity of the peak heatwave day had increased by 1.5C.

There were 20 heat-related deaths a year between 1994 and 2006, and the report warned that number would double if maximum temperatures increased by 2C.

The number of days hot enough to be considered “unsafe” for outdoor workers is expected to increase 20 fold by 2070, which Steffen said could affect productivity and profits in the Pilbara, the centre of WA’s mining industry.

He said Australia needed to urgently adopt an “effective” emissions reduction policy.

“You have to address the root cause, otherwise this trend is going to go on, and on, and on, and on, and it will overwhelm us,” he said.