Flying Helped This Fireman Start a Furniture Business | NBAA

It’s a rare competitive advantage, knowing your customer inside and out. How they eat, how they sleep, how rough they are on the furniture, when they’re running out to a job. As a volunteer fire chief himself, Brandon Dunn knew fire stations needed more durable stuff.

But it’s a challenging market to serve, with only one or two customers per town – in every town across the country.

“We’ve sold to over 5,500 fire departments from Florida to Alaska, and everywhere in between,” said Dunn, founder and president of FireStationFurniture.com. “If I spend a lot of time traveling commercially, then I can’t be productive. So I saw a need that business aviation could really fulfill.”

Dunn has been a pilot nearly as long as he’s been a volunteer firefighter, 26 years, and flies a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet to fire stations in need of a furniture upgrade. He’s seen firsthand the hard impact on the living quarters.

“Firefighters are notoriously tough on equipment, especially furniture,” said Dunn. “We saw there was a need for a true firefighter grade of furniture. To be durable, and for something comfortable to rest in, so we started this business.”

Heavy Duty Home

Different crews use the firehouse 24/7, so the same furniture gets about three times the use it would in a normal home.

“They need stuff to last longer than what you’d get at a local furniture store,” said Dunn.

FireStationFurniture.com sells beds, mattresses, kitchen tables, recliners, office furniture, “basically anything that would go inside the living quarters of a firehouse,” he said. The company’s motto is: “Built firehouse tough.” Everything is shipped directly to fire stations.

In addition to leading his company, Dunn also serves as an assistant fire chief with the Mebane, NC, fire department, where he’s volunteered since 1997. He and his wife run the business together. Along with their employees, they are a small staff of seven.

“We built this business on the internet, and it’s all direct shipping,” said Dunn. “It makes things simple, but also makes things more cost-effective. We do business nationwide with seven people. So, everybody has to be efficient, including me.”

Enjoy these previous NBAA Member Profiles

Fire Chief to Fire Chief

Dunn and his team use the jet quite often for efficient trips to visit clients. “We have customers that are building new fire stations or emergency service facilities,” said Dunn, “and they want someone to come review the plans, see their vision, to get a better understanding of what they need.”

As Dunn says, “That’s really tough to do over email or over the phone.”

Walking through the customer’s firehouse also gives Dunn a chance to show firefighters how to properly care for and maintain their new furniture. “We educate our customers,” he said. “I generally have a better understanding of their needs than somebody outside the fire service, so I can do that, fire chief to fire chief. That’s where those face-to-face visits are huge for us.”

A salesperson or customer service expert will often fly with Dunn on the Vision Jet. As the company’s vice president, his wife will often join for customer visits. FireStationFurniture.com also uses the Vision Jet to vet and meet manufacturers.

Organ Transport: Racing the Clock to Save Lives

Made in the USA

“Finding the right manufacturers for our furniture took a lot of time,” said Dunn. “It took a lot of research, and we went through some changes over 10 years in business, but we’ve landed on a solid group of manufacturers that understand our customers. It took a lot of work to find those suppliers.”

With all but one of their manufacturers in the U.S., flying to see the product developments is easy. “A lot of times I’ll have employees with me for a factory tour,” said Dunn. “The Vision Jet has the room to take most of our team.”

In the first years of the business, Dunn was flying a Cirrus SR22 G1 piston airplane. In 2023, he upgraded to a SR22T turbo-powered G6. Finally, he took possession of a preowned Vision Jet.

Dunn’s top consideration when purchasing an airplane for the business was safety. The decisive feature: the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS).

“The Cirrus was really the only option for us,” he said. “The safety of the parachute [was key]. My wife works for the company, and if something happened to me, she could at least get herself out of the situation. Plus, I’m six feet, six inches tall, and [the airplane is] a comfortable size.”

Driven to Fly: A Car Dealer Transforms Into a CEO Business Aviator

Stepping Up to a Jet

The airplane is so central to FireStationFurniture.com’s business, that they built their office in the company’s hangar on North Carolina’s Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport (BUY).

By 2025, after eight years of strong growth, it became apparent that FireStationFurniture.com was shipping to customers farther and farther away. “We’ve even shipped recliners to North Pole Fire Department,” near Fairbanks, AK, he said.

It was time to move up to a jet.

“We wanted a little more speed, a little more range and to be able to carry more people,” he said. “Going in more kinds of weather opens up a lot of possibilities for us. When we were looking to move up, I considered other options, but it all pointed to the Vision Jet.”

The CAPS system was once again decisive, and Dunn was impressed not only by the service he received through the Cirrus Next aircraft trade-in and upgrade program, but also by the company’s responsive maintenance support network.

When it comes to taking care of annuals and major overhauls, Dunn takes the jet to Cirrus’ training and service center in Knoxville, TN, where factory-trained technicians are familiar with the aircraft and its systems. But for handling most of the regular and small maintenance items, “I have a small, local shop here in Sanford, NC, on Raleigh Executive Jetport (TTA),” he said. “It’s great because it’s a 10-minute flight and a 45-minute drive if I need to leave the airplane.”

A Dentist Leverages Aircraft for Business and Humanitarian Airlift

‘Total Game-Changer’

Dunn flies the Vision Jet about 200 hours per year, the vast majority of the time for business purposes. From his first SR22, flying has transformed his career.

“Early in my career, I was a mattress salesman, and I spent a lot of time in airports, with long connections,” said Dunn, “and I was always driving, driving, driving. Even when we started this business, it was two years before we bought the SR22, and I did a lot of traveling commercially.”

Flying made it possible for him to meet more customers, vet more suppliers and be more productive.

“My time has become increasingly valuable over the years, and the plane has been a total game-changer.”

Learn more at firestationfurniture.com.