Search for missing firefighters to end at sundown Thursday

Jacksonville, FL — The U.S. Coast Guard says it plans to suspend the search for two missing firefighters who disappeared after leaving a central Florida port on a fishing trip last week.

Capt. Mark Vlaun said the search for Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department firefighter Brian McCluney and Justin Walker of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department in Virginia will be suspended Thursday night.

Vlaun says they've reached a point where computer models analyzing the areas that already have been searched show there's no reasonable chance further searching will result in success.

“When we suspend a search we never stop operating. The Coast Guard remains and we will remain ready, relevant and responsive and we will have Cutters underway tomorrow. We will have aircraft underway”, Vlaun said during a Noon-time update in Jacksonville where he was surrounded by Fire and Rescue personnel.

Both the Coast Guard and JFRD Interim Chief Keith Powers said they are heartbroken for what the families have had to endure since Friday.

The Coast Guard and scores of volunteers began looking for the firefighters after McCluney and Walker were supposed to have returned to Cape Canaveral.

Three businesses announced they’re offering a reward of up to $30,000 to anyone who finds the missing boaters.  A fund has been set up through the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department to raise money for the search effort and eventually the families of McCluney and Walker.