ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque Fire Rescue is lending a hand to the City of Roswell as they’re still recovering from historic deadly flooding last month.

Two people died in what Roswell Mayor Tim Jennings described as “a 500-year flood.” Floodwaters damaged numerous businesses, homes and vehicles, including a brush truck, a ladder truck and three fire engines from the Roswell Fire Department.

“We actually are lucky enough to retain a reserve fleet of engines and we had a spare we could part with for a little while. They experienced a historic flood in late October and essentially lost all their fire fleet,” AFR Lt. Jason Fejer said.

That is why AFR loaned Fire Engine 7 to RFD as the city picks up the pieces. FEMA estimates damages could top $500 million.

“To replace a ladder truck, you are looking at $2 million these days. And to replace an engine truck, you are looking at about a million. And to replace a Type 6 brush truck, you are looking at about $350,000. So the dollar amount is huge,” Lt. Fejer said.

Federal funds have been applied for and a disaster was declared but it takes time for that money to come in.

Worse yet, it takes even longer for the trucks to roll into town.

“Even if you order a truck today, you’re looking at a 24-month lead time to actually deliver it,” Lt. Fejer said.

AFR is just one of the departments that have also stepped in to help. Now, when an emergency call goes out, the Roswell Fire Department has a new engine rolling in to town to help.

AFR told us they keep a vehicle in its fleet for eight years before replacing it. If it’s still in good condition, they’ll add it to its reserve fleet. They said that is how they helped Roswell in this situation.