If North Cowichan residents wake up to hazy skies Thursday morning, know the smoke is blowing in from the BC Interior and not from the local Copper Canyon wildfire on the back side of Mount Sicker.

“The winds are going to change here overnight from inflow to outflow, which means we’ll probably start to see smoke from the Interior fires along the coast,” Coastal Fire Centre information officer Dorthe Jakobsen told sixmountains.ca. “It’s a possibility you’ll wake up to some hazy skies tomorrow."

An aggressive mop-up continues at the 32-hectare Copper Canyon fire, she said. “It’s a big job extinguishing all the hot spots, and will take quite a few days.”

A total of 49 personnel, one helicopter, five water tenders and three pieces of heavy equipment are on site.

The Copper Canyon wildfire is believed to be human caused. “It will be investigated,” Jakobsen. “We won’t be able to say any more than that for quite some time.”

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— Larry Pynn