PORT CANAVERAL, FL — The active search for a Fairfax County, Virginia, firefighter and his firefighter friend who went missing off the Florida coast will be suspended at sundown on Thursday, Aug. 22. Justin Walker of Fairfax County Fire and Rescue and Brian McCluney of the Jacksonville, Florida, fire department, were last seen Friday, Aug. 16 leaving Port Canaveral, Florida, on a fishing trip.

Capt. Mark Vlaun of the U.S. Coast Guard announced the suspension of the search at a press conference Thursday. He said the “extremely difficult decision” came after meeting with the firefighters’ families, search assets and other partners. Jacksonville Interim Fire Chief Keith Powers said his fire department would also suspend its active search at sundown.

By the end of Thursday, the Coast Guard’s search will extend from several hundred miles off the New England coast to central Florida. “At this point without additional information, we have simply reached a point where our computer modeling and our ability to search a given location are no longer allowing us to search with any reasonable degree or probability of success,” said Vlaun.

By Thursday afternoon, the search covered over 105,000 square miles. The Coast Guard believes Walker and McCluney left the 300 Christopher Columbus boat ramp heading toward 8A reef. Their boat is a 22-foot Robalo.

A tackle bag belonging to Brian McCluney was found Monday about 50 miles off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida, his wife Stephanie Young McCluney confirmed on Facebook. “I wholeheartedly believe this is a bread crumb they [threw] overboard to say ‘we are here, come find us,'” she wrote.

The Coast Guard had been notified of other debris but had not been able to confirm connections to the missing firefighters. Vlaun said drift from the Gulf Stream current has made the search more difficult.

Walker, a master technician with Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, is assigned to the Franconia Fire Station. Fairfax County Fire Chief John Butler expressed appreciation for Coast Guard federal, regional and local partners as well as volunteers helping with the search.

Active searches continue Thursday. On Wednesday, Vlaun said discussions would follow that evening’s search to determine if an active search is best moving forward. “With each one of these successive search operations, we continue to evaluate as we move forward as to whether there’s still a likelihood of success with search operations,” said Vlaun at the Wednesday press conference.

Powers said the Jacksonville fire department had over 100 searchers out Wednesday. Those search operations were running out of Jacksonville; Brunswick, Georgia and Savannah, Georgia. An additional 50 were out looking from Charleston, South Carolina to the south.

Officials ask anyone with information to call the Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville Command Center at 904-714-7558. To donate in support of search efforts, visit jfrd.com.

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