Search Continues For LA Firefighter Missing In Mexico

LOS ANGELES, CA — The search continued Tuesday for a Los Angeles firefighter who was reported by his family to have gone missing in Baja California last week.

Francisco Aguilar, a 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department, disappeared from his condo near Rosarito and stopped communicating on Friday with family members, who filed a missing persons report with Mexican authorities, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The FBI has offered assistance to Mexican law enforcement authorities, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told City News Service Tuesday.

Family members told KCAL9 that they went to check on Aguilar and found his vehicle missing and his condo ransacked.

Aguilar owns a condominium in San Antonio Del Mar, which is between Tijuana and Rosarito, his brother Gabriel told the Daily News. He left his Rancho Cucamonga home and headed to that condo on Thursday, according to his cousin, Jason Velasco. Relatives last heard from Aguilar on Thursday night, the cousin said.

During a vigil at the family's home in Montebello on Monday evening, relatives said Aguilar, 48, frequently visited the condo.

"We were on FaceTime the other day, and he was on the beach and just talking ... about how it was so much fun and this was a little taste of what retirement would be like for him," his daughter Amaris said. "I just pray with every fiber in my being that my father returns to us."

LAFD spokesman Peter Sanders told reporters that the department is cooperating in the search for Aguilar, who was assigned to Station 44 in Cypress Park.

The FBI is working with Mexican officials to find him and released the following statement to Patch:

"The FBI is in contact with its Legal Attache located at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City regarding the Los Angeles fireman reported missing. The FBI routinely offers assistance to our Mexican counterparts who have jurisdiction over this situation as it occurred in Mexico. The FBI will continue to offer assistance and provide resources as requested by our Mexican law enforcement partners. No further details are available at this time."

- City News Service and Patch Editor Nicole Charky contributed to this report.

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