Highlights from press conference:
- Master Firefighter Fant was overcome by fire conditions during the initial attack
- Operations immediately switched to rescue Fant and provide immediate EMS care
- Exact use of the warehouse is being investigated
- Reports of a collapse and other details, including the cause of the fire, are under investigation
- Grief support is being provided
By David Aaro, Rosana Hughes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A longtime DeKalb County firefighter died Monday after battling a warehouse fire, officials said.
Master Firefighter Preston Fant, 53, was “overcome by fire conditions” as crews worked the commercial structure fire, according to department Chief Darnell Fullum. Fant is the first DeKalb firefighter to die in the line of duty, the chief confirmed.
The blaze broke out around 1:30 p.m. in a warehouse on South Stone Mountain Lithonia Road called Digital Thunderdome, an indie film production studio used for movies and music videos.
“I did know him,” Fullum said of the 21-year firefighting veteran and father of five.
Overcome with emotion during a Tuesday morning news conference, the chief struggled to find the words to describe his friend.
“I would often see him. He was a great firefighter. He was a great family man,” Fullum said.
As crews battled the blaze Monday, Fullum said they quickly realized Fant needed help and began a rescue operation. When Fant was located, they pulled him out and started life-saving efforts as they rushed him to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Details about how exactly the situation played out were not shared. Fullum said those pieces are still under investigation, as is the cause of the fire.
Fant and his squad, who were from Fire Station No. 24, were “a tight group,” department spokesperson Capt. Jaeson Daniels said.
Fant would typically ride in the back of their huge firetruck called “The Mule,” Daniels said. It wasn’t a firefighting truck but one that stored tools.
“He was part of a special group that are not only firefighters, but ones who maintained technical skills to include swift water, high-rise (and) trench rescues,” Fullum said. “We lost an elite firefighter and a brother. I ask you to keep his wife and five children and his entire family, as well as the DeKalb County Fire Rescue family, in your prayers and thoughts.”
Scott Hansen, who owns the film company, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that no one was inside at the time of the fire. They typically work off-site and mostly store props and sets at the location, he said, and he was actually on his way to pick up props when he got a call that his studio was on fire.
“We heard about the firefighter perishing, and that’s — we’re just very saddened by that,“ Hansen said. “I don’t even know how to process that, someone dying trying to fight a fire at our warehouse.”
The company has worked with artists such as GloRilla, Akon, Kodak Black and Shaq, Hansen said.
“It may be like a regular warehouse, but they’ve done some incredible stuff with their studio,” Sullivan Duncan, a manager at the nearby Starbase Atlanta comic book store, told the AJC in a phone interview Tuesday.
“There are all different types of sets ... They had a big set in there that was a cave, like a giant prop cave. They also had a morgue set,” Duncan said.
Fant’s death comes a month after DeKalb lost police Officer David Rose, who was killed in the Aug. 8 attack on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Today is again one of the hardest days in DeKalb County family’s history,” county CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said Tuesday. “Firefighter Fant had the courage to do what is required ... For 21 years, he has served DeKalb County with pride, and today, I want to say that his bravery, that his sacrifice and that his service will never be forgotten.”
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