A ladle preheat station includes a firing wall through which a burner fires into an open end of a ladle juxtapositioned with respect to the wall, an air curtain means positioned about the firing wall so as to direct a curtain of air toward the ladle to eliminate ambient air infiltration between the firing wall and the ladle lip. In a preferred form an insulating refractory is placed along the inner-most edge of the air curtain means to reradiate the radiated heat and minimize slot radiation heat losses.
