User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 394: Juvia vs. Keith, Review./@comment-25111584-20140725174801/@comment-7418318-20140725181332

Yes, Atlas Flame was a Fire Dragon who later became known as the Eternal Flame of the Sun Village, after his body's death.

Maybe he didn't have a choice in which element he was going to learn. Depsite becoming rather common in the series Slayer Magic is still said to be rare, so maybe Ice was the only thing he could get.