Las Vegas (KSNV) — Fires in California prompted a smoke warning in Clark County on Wednesday.

“You try to avoid it as much as possible, but certain tasks call for it,” says Michael Taylor during a visit to a local dog park.

He says he had no choice but to spend time outside and walk his five dogs.

But he admits that the smoky air above the valley made this visit a little less pleasant.

“It was kind of a shock. I woke up this morning and I definitely smelled like something was on fire somewhere,” Taylor said.

And the problem lies hundreds of miles away, in Southern California.

A handful of wildfires are sending smoke toward Las Vegas.

Clark County issues air quality warning.

MORE | CCSD cancels non-essential outdoor activities due to air quality warnings

“This is all coming out of the L.A. Basin,” said Kevin MacDonald of the Air Quality Division. “When it comes to ozone, Clark County in particular is a perfect oven for ozone cooking because of our geography, topography and climate and that goes for particulate pollution as well because the wind blows all the smoke from other places into Clark County and it just hangs around for a while.”

According to MacDonald, there are 18 air quality monitoring stations in the region.

Everything from dust to carbon monoxide is analyzed.

But this week the problem is smoke.

The province’s website reports unhealthy air at every station.

However, three locations were labeled as very unhealthy: near Liberty High School, in Green Valley, and in Boulder City.

“We take the average over 24 hours, that gives us our air quality index for the day,” he explains. “That’s how we compare it historically.”

Includes a comparison to 2013, when the Carpenter 1 fire burned nearly 70,000 acres on Mount Charleston.

Thick smoke lingers for days.

MacDonald said it was too early to determine whether Wednesday’s air quality warning would be extended.

“It’s not great,” he says, looking toward Sunrise Mountain. “It’s tough today.”

Back at the park, Taylor tries to make the most of his limited time outside.

“Just enjoying the wind,” he says. “I still have masks in my car because of Covid, so it’s good to have that stuff on hand, just in case.”