Excerpts from a Daily Herald article:
Buffalo Grove Fire Chief Terry Vavra is retiring after nearly seven years at the helm of the village’s fire department, officials said Monday. Vavra, who has spent 39 years in the firefighting profession, joined the Buffalo Grove Fire Department in 2008 after 28 years with the Lisle-Woodridge Fire District, where he left at the rank of deputy chief.
In Buffalo Grove, Vavra helped negotiate two labor agreements, instituted a battalion chiefs testing process and served on the Lake County Fire Chiefs Board for the last five years, most recently serving as board chair. He’s also taught classes in firefighter safety and had articles published in trade magazines, according to a news release.
Deputy Fire Chief Michael Baker will become interim fire chief, while the village considers Vavra’s replacement. Vavra’s last day is Friday.
thanks Dan
Excerpts from the Chicago Tribune:
Buffalo Grove is losing it’s fire chief. Terrance “Terry” Vavra will step down on Feb. 13.
“It was a tough decision, but I need to be going in a different direction,” Vavra said Feb. 9.
After serving 28 years in the Lisle-Woodridge Fire District, Vavra retired from that department as its deputy chief, and spent that “retirement” by taking the lead in Buffalo Grove in March 2008. But by Vavra’s calculations, his time is coming to an end.
“They say that the lifespan of a chief is about seven years,” he said.
He said he knew what he would be doing first on Feb. 14: “I’m told I have a wife, who I haven’t seen much of in the past seven years,” he said. “And I want to spend more time with my granddaughter.”
As far as the industry, though, he thinks more traveling and teaching may be on the horizon.
In looking for Vavra’s replacement, village manager Dane Bragg will bring to completion his team of department heads. Hired in 2010, Bragg has since selected new leaders for the police and public works departments, as well as a new deputy village manager and a community development director, a new position he created last year.
