KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — Malaysia should offer its firefighters to help extinguish Australia’s wildfires that have swept across eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales (NSW) states, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang suggested today.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said extending Malaysia’s assistance to Australia would be in the spirit of good neighbourliness.

"Australia is facing an unprecedented bushfire crisis, which is reported to be entering a dangerous new phase with high temperatures and strong winds set to exacerbate the already devastating fire conditions across the country.

"Malaysia should offer our firefighters’ help in the Australian bushfire crisis, which will be in the spirit of good neighbourliness,” he said in a statement.

Smoke billows during bushfires in Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia, December 30, 2019 in this picture obtained from social media. — Reuters pic

Lim said there were fears that a number of still-raging blazes could merge and create "monster” infernos in both the Australian states as unpredictable winds fanned burning fires which continued to burn across large swath of lands off the Australian east coast.

Australia has been battling blazes across much of its east coast for months, with experts saying climate change has been a major factor in a three-year drought that has left much of the country’s bushland tinder-dry and susceptible to fires.

The severity of the crisis — which has caused an area nearly the size of the Malaysian peninsula burnt — saw Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announce the largest military call-up in living memory, mobilising up to 3,000 reservists to assist exhausted volunteer firefighters.

Tens of thousands of volunteer firefighters have been hailed in Australia and across the world for their unrelenting battle against the blazes.