The search for a Newfield man who has been missing for a week will resume Friday, with authorities planning to use a piece of advanced technology to assist them.

York County Sheriff William L. King said a drone equipped with thermal imaging will be deployed Friday to look for 34-year-old John Sciaba. Thermal imaging can detect infrared energy or heat.

“It is conceivable that he is hunkered down somewhere,” King said Thursday evening.

King said authorities had planned to use the drone, which is the property of the York County Emergency Management Agency, on Thursday, but blizzardlike conditions prevented them from sending the drone airborne.

Sciaba, who has a girlfriend, was last seen on Feb. 3, walking in the woods behind his home at 96 Stone Road.

Sheriff deputies and state game wardens conducted a ground and air search, but have been unable to locate any clues to his whereabouts.

According to authorities, Sciaba is an experienced outdoorsman but has never been missing for this long. King released a photograph of Sciaba on Thursday standing next to a snow-covered hiking trail in Limerick, wearing hiking boots and a backpack.

Police said Sciaba is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue fleece jacket and hiking boots.

Anyone with information should call the York County Sheriff’s Office at 324-1111.

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com