The BC Wildfire Service is responding to an active smoke plume within the Bush Creek East fire perimeter that is very visible in the area of Sorrento and Notch Hill.

According to the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District, there are 42 personnel responding in the area along with heavy equipment and water tenders.

“Very aware of the activity that is happening in and around particularly Scotch Creek and Turtle Valley, Sorrento areas, with highly visible smoke,” BCWS Information Officer, Aydan Coray, said.

“If you are seeing that, know that we are continuing to monitor from the air, using our infrared scanning to identify those hot spots and prioritize them accordingly.”

Speaking during a CSRD briefing this week, Coray says smoke plumes like this are pretty common with large wildfires.

“Through the next three to four days, into the weekend here, we are expecting temperatures to stay quite high for seasonal average, so through the mid to high 20s,” Coray said. “While we are in the cooling and downslope of the fire season, we are still seeing activity across the wildfire.”

Coray says smoke is expected to linger in the vicinity of the 434 square kilometre fire until there is a significant amount of rain or snow.

“It is also burning quite deep into the fuel so into the root systems and the organic material, and that is something that is going to take quite a significant amount of time and resources to extinguish, as we’ve been doing,” Coray said.

While the Bush Creek East Fire is still burning out of control, the Ross Moore Lake fire near Kamloops is currently being held at 114 square kilometres in size.

“If you see smoke coming from well within a fire’s perimeter and the area is surrounded by black, burned material, this is typically not a concern,” the BC Wildfire Service said.

“However, smoke rising from green, unburned fuel or from outside a fire’s perimeter should be reported immediately.”