FL FL - Justin Walker & Brian McCluney, overdue fishermen on boat, Port Canaveral, 16 Aug 2019

[PommyMommy]

AUG 21, 2019
Life vest found, but it didn't belong to missing boaters
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U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Mark Vlaun addressed online gossip that the boaters had been found head-on, letting the public know that wasn't the case. He said chatter got posted to social media about an unrelated incident and that caused confusion.

[...]

He noted that a life preserver was found but it didn't belong to McCluney or Walker.

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Crews searched 5,000 square miles Wednesday and didn't find anything connected to the boaters.

[...]

 

[JerseyGirl]

Beth Rousseau @BethANJax

Crews with @USCGSoutheast have been out through the night looking for Brian McCluney and Justin Walker.
90,306 sq miles searched
249 hours active searches
Efforts moving north to #Savannah & #Charleston

Our help and needs has moved north...boats capable of 60 mile runs needed to depart from Savannah and Charleston [today] ....call Chief Barrow at 7 am [today] 904-813-5315 with boat size, capabilities, name, and he will give you instructions #bringthemhome #ourbrothers

 

[Jax49]

Apologies if already posted.

Federal agents use counter-narcotics planes to search for missing boaters

CAPE HATTERAS, N.C. - Besides hundreds of volunteers and the Coast Guard, search crews with U.S. Customs and Border Protection are also involved in the search for missing firefighters Brian McCluney and Justin Walker.

The agency deployed two King Air surveillance planes and two long-range P-3 Orion aircraft from Jacksonville and a go-fast drug interdiction boat from St. Augustine -- all equipped with technology and trained crews that can spot movement from miles away.

 

[JerseyGirl]

A drift model has search efforts stretching from Savannah, Georgia, to the Outer Banks.

Search area for missing Florida boaters extends to NC coast :: WRAL.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The search for two missing firefighters will continue Thursday morning, but both JFRD and U.S. Coast Guard warns that time is not on their side.

"We're in some critical times right now," Interim Director/Fire Chief Keith Powers said Wednesday during a 6 p.m. news briefing. "Time has really become our enemy."

Powers said Thursday's search will focus as far north as the South Carolina area. Thursday will mark the seventh day of searching for JFRD firefighter Brian McCluney and his friend, Fairfax, Va. firefighter Justin Walker. The two disappeared Friday after they were last spotted near Port Canaveral for a fishing trip.

Search for missing firefighters will continue Thursday: 'Time has become our enemy'

 

[imstilla.grandma]

LIVE BLOG: Few clues, Gulf Stream making search for missing firemen extremely difficult, 'the area is becoming so large'

 

[zecats]

Interesting read:

How the Gulf Stream could impact search efforts for missing boaters

On average, this current is believed to move about 4 mph to the north, but if you add in a southerly wind you could be booking up to 10 mph just by floating.

Weather conditions have to be ideal or else it can become very dangerous boating across the Gulf Stream.

Wind affects surface waters and, when coming from the opposite direction of the current or the south, can produce rough seas. Wave heights can quickly increase and can break causing more stress on the hull of a boat. This also slows you down.

Another hazard is the Gulf Stream’s warm waters, which can create its own weather, particularly thunderstorms with lightning, heavy rain and strong winds.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, both 14, were the focus of an extensive search after they disappeared on July 24, 2015.

We talked to Austin’s parents, now monitoring the search for the missing firefighters off the north Florida coast.

They tell CBS12 News this latest search reminds them of what they went through.

“I do pray for them and I’m sending them my love and support and I hope that they are feeling the love and support from their community like we did.," Carly Black, Austin's mother.

An examination of the boys’ boat motor determined that it worked properly.

What exactly happened to them will apparently remain a mystery forever.

Parents of missing Jupiter teen praying for missing firefighters

 

[PommyMommy]

Kailey Tracy on Twitter
Chad Walton is heading up the volunteers in Charleston. He says @jaff122 called Monday asking if he could coordinate volunteers to help search. He put a call out and says his phone hasn’t stopped ringing since. About a dozen boats set to leave today to help search. @FCN2go

7:37 AM - 22 Aug 2019

Troy Kless on Twitter
I’m joining US Customs on their flight to search for missing firefighters Brian McCluney and Justin Walker. One of the @JFRDJax firefighters on this flight is Brian’s best friend. He was supposed to join the boat trip Friday. He’s now helping search for them. @FCN2go

8:21 AM - 22 Aug 2019

 

[imstilla.grandma]

[
Three Florida businesses are offering $30,000 to whoever finds two missing firefighters lost at sea since Friday when they departed Port Canaveral on a fishing trip, according to First Coast News.

According to the report, Palm Beach Valley Outdoor Bar & Grill in Ponte Vedra Beach, International Marine in Boynton Beach and 1-800-BOARDUP in Jacksonville Beach are each offering $10,000 for the safe return of Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department firefighter Brian McCluney and Fairfax, Va. firefighter Justin Walker.
/QUOTE]

3 Florida businesses offer $30,000 to whoever finds missing boaters

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The search is down to 150 volunteers and 40 boats hunting in the waters from Port Canaveral to Cape Hatteras, officials said.

U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies continue to search the waters off Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas for a missing Jacksonville firefighter and his Virginia firefighter friend.

The sixth day of searching for two firefighter friends missing since a Friday fishing trip is down to 150 volunteers in 40 boats hunting in the waters from Port Canaveral and Jacksonville up to Charleston, even as far north as Cape Hatteras, according to fire department and Coast Guard officials.

Day 6 of search for missing firefighters spreads to Carolinas

 

[gngr~snap]

3 Florida businesses offer $30,000 to whoever finds missing boaters

Do they have reason to believe these men were kidnapped or taken?
How is $30,000 going to help anyone find them?
Moo

 

[Jax49]

Do they have reason to believe these men were kidnapped or taken?
How is $30,000 going to help anyone find them?
Moo

No, searching is expensive and they are trying to encourage more boaters and pilots to join. IMHO

ETA from the article:

"If it just gets one person to sign up and go out and find them, then it's worth every penny," Toni Kara, owner of Palm Valley Outdoors Bar & Grill, told First Coast News. "They need to come home."

 

[PommyMommy]

South Carolina Department of National Resources joined the search yesterday.

S.C. Department of Natural Resources on Twitter
SCDNR has joined the search for the two missing Florida boaters, coordinated by @USCGSoutheast. Two SCDNR 18-foot boats launched from the Beaufort and Charleston areas, and one agency aircraft is being utilized, covering an area approx. 50 nautical miles off shore.
4:57 PM - 21 Aug 2019 from South Carolina, USA

S.C. Department of Natural Resources on Twitter
The search will continue tomorrow with 3 SCDNR boats & additional flights, stretching north to the Little River area. Boaters operating off the coast should remain vigilant and report any debris or other unusual sightings to either the USCG, or SCDNR. (1-800-922-5431)

4:57 PM - 21 Aug 2019 from South Carolina, USA

S.C. Department of Natural Resources on Twitter
CORRECTION: The boats being utilized today are 28-foot boats. Tomorrow, there will be an additional three boats searching.
8:26 PM - 21 Aug 2019 from South Carolina, USA

#BringThemHome

 

[Torontonian]

Do they have reason to believe these men were kidnapped or taken?
How is $30,000 going to help anyone find them?
Moo

I think it has to do with incentive in terms of encouraging people with boats or on boats to look for them.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Savannah fire sent Marine 1 out with a team of four men to search about 20 miles offshore in a 200 square mile grid.

Savannah Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Joseph F. Bandy says they'll do anything to help their fellow firefighters.

"That’s what we consider ourselves as first responders, we’re all family," he said. "We have a set parameter of lat and long that we go by so we would traverse from one end to the other and just slide over each time and continue the search pattern."

Captain Mark Vlaun with the U.S. Coast Guard says the longer they're missing, the harder the search becomes.

"At this point, our search is becoming quite extended. As I mentioned yesterday, we’re in a race against time and that’s becoming more acute as we move forward," said Vlaun.

About one hundred searchers all along the coast are searching for the men on boats and in planes. They’ve searched more than ninety thousand square miles since Friday.

"We’re always hopeful that this could end in a positive light and it could end within the next 20 minutes. However, we right now are committed to the search and we will remain on station as long as we can," said Bandy.

Savannah Fire assists in the search for missing firefighters out of Jacksonville, Virginia

 

[PommyMommy]

AUG 22, 2019
Charleston Coast Guard officials anticipate assisting in massive search for missing Florida boaters

A Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater HC-130 Hercules aircraft crew searches for two overdue boaters August 19, 2019, off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. for Brian McCluney and Justin Walker. The firefighters departed last Friday on their outing aboard a 24-foot vessel from Port Canaveral. U.S. Coast Guard/Provided

Charleston-based U.S. Coast Guard officials said Thursday they remain willing and able to assist in the vast search for two missing firefighters who did not return from a fishing trip last week off Florida’s Atlantic coast.

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Jacksonville Interim Fire Chief Keith Powers said earlier in the week the agency was calling for as “many boats” as could be mustered.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

AUG 22, 2019
'Spectacularly large and complex' search effort continues for missing boaters
Rescuers have searched an area bigger than the entire state of Florida as they continue to comb the coastline and open waters for signs of two missing firefighters who were last seen on a boat near Port Canaveral Friday morning.

The search stretches north from Jacksonville up the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The U.S. Coast Guard said they will provide an update on the search at 10 a.m.

[...]

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Dozens of volunteers set out in Charleston to search for missing firefighters

 

[moonriverfarm]

Where could this boat be, if it did not sink? And if it sank, i wonder if the debris would be so small that it just dispersed?