Fire Dawgs Junk Removal Eyes Expansion, Growing Leaders
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFor nearly a decade, Hoosiers in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne have turned to Fire Dawgs Junk Removal to haul away unneeded items or tear down unsightly structures. Recently, the company started operations in Bloomington and is now looking to expand to Muncie and Lafayette.
Fire Dawgs has an ambitious plan to locate operations in every city in Indiana.
In an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, founder and Chief Executive Officer Bennett Grove II said part of his business model is to forge workers into company leaders and giving them a new market to pursue.
“Once we have those leaders, we have to give them a place to grow. We have to give them opportunities,” explained Grove. “We want our team members to grow intrinsically. We want them to introspectively. We want them to grow as people and want them to learn new skills.”
Grove’s service acumen and willingness to train others may stem from his time in the military. For six years, he served as a firefighter with the U.S. Air Force, which is where the company moniker was derived.
“When you’re in the military as a firefighter, you’re called a fire dawg,” said Grove.
When he retired from the military, he became a civilian firefighter. During his off time from the firehouse, Grove created a side hustle, hauling junk and removing materials that his customers did not want to handle.
“We do the tough jobs that people could do themselves, but they just don’t want to,” said Grove. “We instill a culture of, ‘We’re the tough dogs that get it done.’”
Eventually, he found enough work and started his company in 2011.
“I started Fire Dawgs Junk Removal. We just kept that name with it so we can establish those fire department roots in the company.”
Now, ten years later, Grove says as he focuses on the company mission to provide good service and pursue growth, he also wants to continue to help nurture future leaders.
“When we bring people into our company, we sit down with them. We talk to them about, ‘If you ever leave the company, he wants you to leave a better person than when you when you came,’” said Grove.