The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has issued a pollution warning to Maricopa County residents for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
The advisory warns people with asthma or lung disease not to exert themselves.
The department encourages all residents to stop wood burning and consider other things to improve air quality like using electric gardening equipment and cutting down on driving gas cars.
Air quality reports show pollution levels are either moderate or unhealthy for sensitive groups across the Valley, and the highest pollution area is in south Phoenix.
This advisory is about the high levels of PM2.5 particles in the air, which come from things like car engines, fires and factories.
Those particles can cause asthma and increase risk of heart disease, stroke, lung disease and lung cancer.
