DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County firefighter who was killed in the line of duty on Monday was trying to rescue another firefighter.
Channel 2’s Michael Doudna was at a news conference on Tuesday morning, where DeKalb County Fire Chief Darnell Fullum identified the victim as Master Firefighter Preston Fant.
Fullum says that more than 12 firetrucks and more than 30 firefighters responded to a warehouse fire on a movie production company’s property on South Stone Mountain Lithonia Road.
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While battling the fire, county officials say Fant was “overcome by fire conditions” and was trapped while trying to rescue a fellow firefighter and had to be rescued himself.
He was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital where he later died.
“We lost an elite firefighter and a brother,” Fullum said.
Fullum says that Fant is the first DeKalb County firefighter to have died in the line of duty while battling a fire.
Fant spent all 21 years of his service with the department at Fire Station #24 on Redan Road, where the news conference was held.
DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said that Fant leaves behind a wife and five children.
She also noted that many of his fellow firefighters described him as a father figure.
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When NewsChopper 2 flew overhead on Monday, the flames and smoke were gone. However, you could still see firefighters sitting together in a row and fire engines crowding the parking lot.
A Channel 2 Action News camera captured loved ones embracing one another outside the emergency department.
Cochran-Johnson has ordered all flags across DeKalb County to half-staff.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Fant’s family.
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