Veteran DeKalb firefighter, father of 5, dies in blaze at indie film studio

Fant, a 21-year firefighting veteran and father of five, had been “overcome by fire conditions” as nearly three dozen fire crews worked the commercial structure fire early Monday afternoon. The blaze broke out in a South Stone Mountain Lithonia Road warehouse that housed Digital Thunderdome, an indie film production studio used for movies and music videos.

Fant is the first DeKalb firefighter to die in the line of duty. The incident happened almost exactly 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.

As crews battled Monday’s fire, Fullum said they quickly realized Fant needed help and began a rescue operation. They located Fant, pulled him out and started life-saving efforts as they rushed him to Grady Memorial Hospital.

Officials did not share how exactly the deadly situation developed. Fullum said those details are still under investigation, as is the cause of the fire.

Scott Hansen, who owns the film studio, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that no one was inside the warehouse at the time of the fire. Much of the company’s work occurs off-site, and they use the location mostly to store props and sets, he said. He was on his way to pick up props when he got a call that his studio was on fire, he said.

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.”

Fant was a father figure at work, too. Fullum said he spoke with a former DeKalb firefighter who visited Fant at the hospital and credited him as the reason he became a firefighter.

“He truly was somebody who was looked upon as a leader, as a role model,” the chief told the AJC.

Hansen said he hasn’t been able to survey the damage at the studio. He and his wife run the company, and they moved into the warehouse less than three years ago.

“The film industry has been terrible this year with Marvel leaving and all that work declining, so just this is like, you know, the bomb on the cake,” he 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.

“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.

During the news conference, DeKalb CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said flags around the county will be flown at half-staff to honor Fant.

He was the 58th firefighter to be killed in the line of duty this year in the U.S. and the first in Georgia, according to data from the U.S. Fire Administration. Less than a year earlier, Blackshear Assistant fire Chief Leon Davis was killed by a fallen tree that landed on his department pickup truck while he was leaving the scene of a downed powerline that was on fire on Sept 27, 2024, the federal agency stated.

“Firefighter Fant had the courage to do what is required,” she said. “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.”