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By Alia Shoaib
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Residents of a California county have been warned to try and avoid refilling their cars with gasoline on Tuesday due to poor air quality risks.
The Imperial County Air Pollution Control District issued an air quality alert in parts of the state on Tuesday due to high levels of ozone, which at ground level is a harmful pollutant.
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The air quality alert applies to the cities of El Centro, Calexico, Alamorio and Brawley and has been issued for the hours of 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. local time.
In order to minimize ozone air pollution levels, residents are advised to delay trips to the gas station until the evening.
They are also advised to avoid using household chemicals, limit the use of gasoline-powered lawn and garden equipment, conserve electricity and set air conditioners to a higher temperature.
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Refueling cars can release pollutants that contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, which is formed when pollutants from vehicles, industrial facilities, and other sources react with sunlight.
Newsweek reached out to the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District for comment outside of regular working hours.
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Elevated levels of ozone can result in poor air quality levels, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
High ozone levels typically occur on hot, sunny days. They can cause respiratory health problems such as difficulty breathing, asthma attacks and lung damage, according to the agency.
Children, older adults, and people with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are usually more sensitive to its effects, said the NWS.
The alert follows one on Monday that warned California residents of low air quality due to the Post Fire which blazed in southern parts of the state. California's first major fire of the year, started on Saturday afternoon and has spurred 1,200 people to evacuate. As of Monday afternoon, the fire had burned more than 15,000 acres and was 8 percent contained
Residents were also told to avoid burning candles as it is a source of indoor air pollution.
On Tuesday, parts of several other states were also on alert over poor air quality levels, including New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey.
Several states around the country have faced worsening air quality due to rising summer temperatures.
"Ozone is complex and arises from many sources. Hot summer weather is definitely a contributor in that it sets up the conditions for ozone formation," Steven Brown, program leader for the Chemical Science Laboratory's Tropospheric Chemistry program, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, previously told Newsweek.
"Urban air pollution, wildfires and other sources of natural and human-caused emissions may all interact to produce summertime ozone," he said.
He said that air quality alerts are common during the summer months.
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