Help: protection of an orchard from frost by burning tires

[kristina221]

I found this question in a book about physics, but there was no explanation. Q: Why do fruit fruit growers set car tires on fire in their orchards in the clear winter mornings?
I imagine te answer would be to stop frost from forming, but I don't understand how smoke or soot could do that. The chapter is about wave-like properties of electromagnetic radiation and particles. Could soot act as a black body at 32°F (273 K)?

 

[sgd37]

Infrared radiation is heat and is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. And this does not belong in the advanced physics section