Fires lit during the night by arborists in an attempt to save their crops threatened by frost have generated a significant veil of pollution in the Rhone valley, witnesses reported Thursday to AFP.
"
It's traditional and it happens almost every year when there is frost, but this time it's massive,
" confirmed Marie-Blanche Personnaz, director of the air quality monitoring organization Atmo. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Read also: In Alsace, "candles" to protect orchards from frost
The organization is preparing to trigger a "
yellow vigilance
" to pollution, in view of "
the levels of significant particles in the Rhone valley and the Lyon basin
", she said.
“
The phenomenon
”, reported Marie-Blanche Personnaz, “
very spectacular and has rarely been so obvious
”.
"
It is visible as far as Lyon where the layer of dirt is visible
", even though car traffic, a major source of pollution, is reduced due to health measures.
The head of Atmo stressed that farmers, faced with the risk of losing everything, are "
completely within their rights
" in lighting these fires, often blocks of paraffin, but also other combustible materials.
"
But we should perhaps work on the problem and find other solutions when the phenomenon (of freezing) is massive,
" she noted.