Update: More than a month after Brooke and Karen went missing, the update is that there still is no news; at this point, friends and family are presuming the couple dead. However, the search will continue. See http://karenandbrooke.blogspot.com for more info.

We regret to inform you that Brooke Stauffer, NECA’s executive director of standards and safety, and his fiancée Karen Dodds are missing after their small, single-engine plane apparently went down over Lake Huron on Friday, Aug. 24. Some debris from the aircraft was reportedly found Tuesday on the beach at Bois Blanc Island.

Brooke and Karen had been vacationing on Mackinac Island. On Friday afternoon, they set out from the small airport there to Bad Axe, Michigan, with Karen piloting the plane. The plan was to visit her family in the area, and the flight should have taken about two hours. They never arrived.

A massive search took place over the weekend. The Michigan Wing of the U.S. Civil Air Patrol, based in Gaylord, the U.S. Coast Guard out of Detroit, and the Royal Canadian Coast Guard were all involved in the effort. The search continues with the use of divers in the area where the wreckage was discovered.

We will provide an update when more information is known. In the meantime, you may click here (http://karenandbrooke.blogspot.com/) to read the blog being maintained by Brooke’s oldest son, Christian.

Brooke joined NECA’s national headquarters staff in June 1995. His duties include overseeing the development of NECA's series of National Installation Standards and safety resources. He is chairman of the National Fire Protection Association's Electrical Section, which has overall responsibility for the National Electrical Code, and he is a principal on Code-Making Panel 1, NFPA. Brooke also has written many articles on safety and standards for this Web site and the magazine, and he is one of our most highly regarded Code consultants. Our thoughts and prayers are with Brooke and Karen and their families.