The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department is assisting with the search for the missing JFRD and Fairfax firefighters who went missing after going for a fishing trip out of the Port Canaveral area Friday.
JFRD said they sent 50 firefighters and 11 boats to help with the USCG Southeast's search of the Vilano and Daytona Beach area Saturday morning.
The boaters, identified as JFRD's Brian McCluney and Fairfax's Justin Walker were last seen leaving the 200 Christopher Columbus boat ramp in a 24-foot center console boat, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
McCluney is an engineer at District 31 on the Westside, according to Randy Wyse with the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters. Wyse said McCluney and Walker were in McCluney's father's boat. McCluney's father had died just a few weeks prior.
Family notified the coast guard station in Port Canaveral that the boaters had not returned Friday evening as expected, according to the coast guard.
At 2:49 p.m., the U.S. Coast Guard tweeted that crews investigated reports of a debris field 50 miles east of St. Augustine, but it was confirmed that the debris field was not related to the missing boaters.
As of Saturday morning, crews have searched an estimate of 4,800 miles and were continuing their search via boat and air of the area to the north of Jacksonville and approximately 80 miles off the shore, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Southeast.
The district chief from McCluney's station, Patrick Gouin, said that of the 50 JFRD firefighters helping with the search, seven are from McCluney's shift. Other firefighters from Jacksonville will be covering their shifts as they help with the search.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the missing boaters is asked to contact the Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville Command Center at 904-714-7558.
