Unbelievable: Here’s why you’re smelling smoke in Atlantic County, NJ

I smelled it the other day in the English Creek area of Egg Harbor Township.

It was smoke. Smoke like a forest fire, not smoke like someone's backyard grill.

There's a reason we're still occasionally smelling smoke in Atlantic County and other areas of South Jersey.

Wildfire continues to produce smoke

It's not a new fire that we're smelling.

It's an old fire we're smelling - a fire that has been smoldering for months.

Back in July, we heard about a wildfire in the Wharton State Forest - the Tea Time Hill Wildfire. It broke out on July 5th near Batona Campground, and in a few days, it was 100% contained.

Out of sight and out of mind? Not quite.

Officials with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service say that even though the fire has been out for months, it continues to produce smoke.

"The smoke condition is being caused by the fire burning in the duff layer of soil, which is especially common with summer fires. Additionally, pine needles which have fallen in recent weeks has reignited surface fire in areas due to the burning in the duff layer. "

There's no current danger

Officials say there's no danger to people or structures - it's still 100% contained. It's just smoldering, much like a campground fire, which might still smoke even though it appears to be out.

Perhaps expected rain in the next few days will finally put the smoldering and smoking to an end. It has been a dry several weeks here in South Jersey.

A tip of our cap to the firefighters still out there keeping an eye on things and keeping us all safe!