3 longtime firefighters retire in Buffalo Grove

The Buffalo Grove Village Board has said goodbye to three longtime firefighters: Deputy Fire Chief Daniel K. Pearson, Battalion Chief Gary Belfield and Public Education Officer Arthur “Skip” Hart.

Pearson has served since 1977, Belfield since 1975 and Hart since 1995. Pearson, who began as a paid-on-call firefighter, was commended for his professionalism. Belfield helped establish the Combined Area Fire training facility. Hart was the first member of the department to receive the honor of Firefighter of the Year. He was the first to set up a pop-up camper of fire safety education materials.

Fire Chief Terry Vavra paid tribute to the three men at Monday night’s village board meeting.

“The department is going through a change, obviously, as seen by three of our more senior members leaving, but what I want you to realize is that … we’re going to lose almost 100 hundred years of experience in the fire service. And that is going to be extremely hard for us to fill,” he said.

“These are three absolutely phenomenal firefighters, but more importantly, three phenomenal human beings.”