"Not sure if anyone has said this already, but isn't dragonborn fire breath a free action?"
You are thinking in the right direction, it's just called something else. In 4e, it's a Minor Action It's not a Free Action, but you are correct that Ken may make a Standard Action in addition to his Dragon Breath. Each character gets 1 Standard, 1 Minor and 1 Move Action per turn.
Thank you! Thought so. Part of the fun of playing a dragonborn is that it's so broken.