Firefighters are battling a large fire in a remote part of New Jersey's Wharton State Forest.

The fire near the historic Batsto Village was about 70 percent contained by Friday evening. Officials say that it has consumed 3,000 acres of forest.

Firefighters were mostly letting the fire burn itself out, while protecting the perimeter to make sure it didn’t get out of hand.

“We call it an indirect attack,” says John Rieth with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. “We use existing roads and we improve those roads and create backfires to consume the fuel ahead of the [forest] fire. They had started the process yesterday.”

Smoke from the fire was drifting through parts of southern New Jersey. The Ocean County Sheriff's Office said it could be smelled 30 miles away in Long Beach Island and people reported seeing smoke in Atlantic County as well.

About 50 firefighters from the New Jersey State Forest Fire Service and local fire departments were fighting the blaze Friday.

Thursday and Friday saw warm weather conditions with temperature above 90 degrees. Firefighters say that it was so hot between the weather and the fire that some of their equipment melted.

“Yesterday my temp said 107 air degrees and that’s minus the fire,” says firefighter Samuel Moore. “We’re right against it and dealing with heat, humidity and fatigue that goes along with it.”

Officials say that the fire may burn into Saturday. The cause was not immediately known.