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The Sun Times. Owen Sound, M1.nl,Harnh 2:]. 1992 ll Sun Tunes phom hy willy Wmnnn Irwin Lobsinger is retiring from the Walkerton fire department after 60 years as a volunteer ‘Lobie’ fought 60 years of fires By SCOTT DUNN Sun Times staff WALKERTON â€" Afler 60 years a! fighting fires and searchlng lul- dmwnlng vlcums 1n area walal-s, 85-yearâ€"old Irwin Lobslnger dunks ll‘s lime to lake I! easy. He's held every posl In lbs Walkorton Fll-o Department slnca first volullleurlng Ill 1932, Includ- lng chief, fire marshal's asslslanl and for lbs last 14 years, fire pre- venuon OmCEL Hls panelled office walls ln hls Walkerlnn home am rnvamd will] pla ues and celllllrtales recogniz- lng I'lalthlm'smnnls Town muncll wlll even be lnslalr Hug a braner annl ue me llydmnl In from of [he llru all In let 1an llun oanllslnger, nr "Lam" ll: no; knownl .Jlly. Dleswd ll1l1ls ' and black lum lurk nwr lllS r lluur7< llrl Ill: ll 4‘: ll»- l'll l .‘ll-al unvva ‘Immm lm nulnnw w, w .o .l. m M mu m may llvv Illlle unl|nrm Lulnvingcr luwkccl m-l »- ul .lI lua "I lul :I H « l ‘ MI ,. lllfll l . l ‘m-l lulu-l lllllll Ha was expert at locallng drowned vlcllms and developed ms own memud ol nndlng them. “I don'l know why ll Is. I just seem lo have a knack for [Inde bodlos." be said, To help him. he used Io throw a bag of hlan Into the walors whale Ibo vlcllm entered, “That bag of bran would go around lo whore Iha body was," exv plained Lobsinger, who success- fully used lhls melhod mosl re- :enlly a couple olyears ago Io find a young boy who fall off 1110 apron of a dim-l7 He found 27 bodlos In the Sauuuun River. Tullswaler River. by the Mildmay dam and In \'.’]l‘lmls Creeks uvor hls co FEET Ho rFCelvH’l a modal of levery irlvl'n [ha Onlurm l'lre Mamllal's Dlr -' rm- .rsclmlga young boy fmm a burnl ,1 llulllllng In 1977 ~ an ll’I' Mom llull nmrly kilan Lullrlllgnr. PM o- had lln'lwl nl \II'I llpan l. v m. kl. Mn. 11m“ mm: ‘llll .l l-w\ u l» llaplw'l wllla ,..l ll Inolm ll.” llallgmlvlli lu 5o allm loo ‘lull lupmwl w mu imu ml lulllllmg WIIH‘I the boy was supposed lo be. I want In through a window and got the boy." The ynulh later dlad. and Lobslnger almost dled loo, doctols who Ll-aalnrl hlm for smoke Inhala- tlon later told hlml There‘s been a lot of worrylng If her husband would lelum from firm, but flra fightlng was In hls blood, said hls wlfe, Ruth. “I bought evenlually he'd have lo rallre. Hls hear! was always In his work." when the phone would rlng In llle mlddle ollbo nlghl about a fire, I! was slm whn galhcmd hls heavy Lluthng, turned on [he uulslde light and lullde hlm on hls way. “LBIEI‘ on I Lblnk It was a llllle hill‘Ll on hlm gelllng up In the nlglll But he sllll :lld ll. nglll al Illa cracl. 01 the slrrll." Flro nolmnl; has rlunqull a ll)! slnru Lnlvingur Erxl sum-ll Al one mun ul W In: .ll the Ian 1‘ ll “.15 mull-i,“ u. H‘ .l..« \ u llrlllwfi m l: u.» ll'llllllll‘. Hum-2. ‘lullmlllllllllmllllllll mom l‘lll: Alrl I ul llIl lll-‘l '::lnl ul h. w.- mm ll lht' um" l «Hollow recelve a dollar, Lobslnger remem- bered, 1n lhe wlnler. a sleigh was used ’ The fire dapartmenl had an old Imparlal OI] lankar convarlad to 25m files, but ll wasn't very help- Much has Improved wllh the ad- vent of pagers, larger lankals and hlgh-prassure hoses which douse blazes less wlll: water volume than farce, he said. Unlll July 1, Lobslnger wlll con» Llnuo to cdumlo people about ways ofpmvontlng Ems. ll mlghl not be as excllIng as rusblng lnlo burnlng bulldlngs. But ll brlngs hlm much prlde. Other than arsnn at the town's ag- rlcullunll hulldlng lllree years ago, not more lhan $1000 damage has been roused by filo ln Walkol'lon ln morn Ilmn rm y-nlrs Wallwllun hauls :lll mllor mm- lnllnllll a n" l' v wllh (hr: lawns! all-l u ILL pound-,5. said ‘i pt‘l I grlzll \‘l‘dl ol [‘l’llld In lfilllll ll\ls lllh lwmllx'r 1 (ml hy lll'lllL’, llze lull le LIVE livus and mu mo Imupurh‘ " he sold vwww