"Just this week, it got worse," said Maria Galindo, who lives near the refinery. "Gas. It smells like gas."

Galindo said her daughter became ill after going outside.

"She started coughing and throwing up," said Galindo.

Jose Jesus Fonseca has lived near the refinery for nearly three years. He took KFOX-14 crews to where he said the smell is coming from: Western Refining property. There, KFOX-14 spotted vapors coming out of the ground.

Initially, Western Refining crews asked KFOX-14 to not film inside the property. However, eventually, Gary Hanson, a Western Refining representative, came outside to tell our crews what was happening with the smell.

Hanson said the bad smell was set off by a sudden power outage. With the power outage, Western Refining crews had to shut off all equipment. To safely restart the equipment, it takes time. When the fluids began circulating in the machines, the machines began to emit a bad odor. Hanson said the vapors are not dangerous and when the machines begin running regularly once again, the smell will disappear.

Hanson said normally they would be able to issue more notice, but with the sudden power outage, they were unable to.

Hanson encourages residents to report instances like this, saying that they are the refinery's eyes and ears. The number is 915 534-1400.