Had an airplane at KTEB Signature with an AOG issue we were having looked at by a local MX provider yesterday. They needed to run the engines to verify some troubleshooting, Signature there always seems to be difficult to work with even on a beautiful day. Yesterday we were told they were limiting their line persons exposure to the smoke and we’d have to wait until the next shift started in 3 1/2 hours to get the airplane moved. Having spent my entire career in SoCal and having gone through plenty of periods of very heavy smoke with no relief I was embarrassed for them, I thought New Yorkers were tough and resilient. Today a coworker and I were talking about it and I mentioned maybe the smoke there is equivalent to snow here, either one can cause everything to grind to a halt because it’s not what we’re used to.