Search ramps up for 2 missing firefighters in Florida

Author: AP Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published:
Firefighters Brian McCluney and Justin Walker.

A Florida fire official says his department is ramping up its search for two firefighters who’ve been missing since going boating in the Atlantic Ocean last week.

Jacksonville Interim Fire Chief Keith Powers said the agency needs as “many boats as we can get” to assemble Tuesday morning as the search for Brian McCluney and Justin Walker continues. The men set out in their 24-foot (7.3-meter) boat from Port Canaveral last Friday.

The U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies have been searching a wide area of ocean between Cape Canaveral and Jacksonville. On Monday, crews found McCluney’s fishing tackle bag some 50 miles (80 kilometers) off St. Augustine.

McCluney works for the Jacksonville department while Walker is a master technician for the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department in Virginia.

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