Firefighters aren't giving up hope in search for their brothers

GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. – Searchers scoured the water on more than 30 boats Wednesday, leaving as far north as Charleston, South Carolina, with the hopes of finding the two missing firefighters who left for a fishing trip on Friday out of Port Canaveral. 

On Wednesday, News4Jax spent the day on a boat off the coast of Brunswick with volunteers out of Glynn County who said the search is personal for them, as many of them are firefighters and paramedics.

"Basic rule in firefighting: two in, two out. You never go in without someone. You never go out with somebody," said Glynn County firefighter Edward Anderson. "We got two out here right now that we want to get and we want to bring them home."

The searchers used radio to communicate for updates and stopped at the sight of anything unusual in the water, scooping trash and other plastics out of the water. 

Their assigned grid was more than 50 miles off the coast of Brunswick. The conditions were pretty flat Wednesday. 

Anderson and other firefighters who volunteered to search said they're not giving up hope for their brothers -- Brian McCluney, who works for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, and Justin Walker, a firefighter from Fairfax, Virginia.

"I think these coastal communities, you know, we all come together when something happens," Anderson said. "So general courtesy when a boater is in distress, you stop and help them, and that goes beyond the water."

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Search for firefighters lost at sea hits close to home

For Anderson and the crew out on the boat, all they found was several pieces of plastic, including several balloons in a flotation device, but nothing that seemed to belong to the two missing men. But they're staying optimistic.

Before the crew headed out on the water Wednesday, the wife of the captain who volunteered to take these searchers out on the water for Day 5 of the search also posted a hopeful message and photos on Facebook.