The fine silt that covers the town when the furnaces open is called ‘fallout.’ There were up to
three sirens before they opened the furnace. The first was a fifteen minute warning, the
second was ten minutes and the third was five minutes. When the furnace opens a lot of iron
ore dust came out in a big orange cloud. If you had washing on the line you had time to get it
in before it was affected by the dust. Some of the kids used to jump walls to get their
neighbour’s washing in if they were out. You can still see it at night when the sky lights up
orange.
© Roo Lewis 2023 courtesy GOST Books
