After putting in their service with the city of Anaheim, two bucket trucks and a water-toting fire engine are heading to Puerto Rico to help a hurricane-battered coastal city recover.
Anaheim officials donated the three trucks, which otherwise would have been sold at auction, to the city of Guaynabo on Puerto Rico’s northeast coast. Hurricane Maria struck the U.S. territory in September 2017, causing several thousand deaths and widespread flooding, power outages and other damage estimated to cost billions of dollars.
The trucks – their combined estimated value is $25,000 – are expected to be used in rebuilding the Puerto Rican city’s roads, water and electric networks. The gift came about after Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait and Guaynabo Mayor Angel Pérez Otero met through a mayor exchange program organized by the Open Society Foundations, officials said.
The program’s goal was for U.S. mayors to share their knowledge of disaster recovery with Puerto Rican officials. Tait and Anaheim Public Works Director Rudy Emami visited Puerto Rico in April, and Anaheim hosted a delegation from Guaynabo in July.
Tait said when he was in Guaynabo several months after the hurricane, he saw street light poles snapped in half, damaged homes and buildings and roads washed out by heavy rains.
In some cases, the city and its residents lacked the documents the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency requires in aid applications, and Guaynabo officials asked if Anaheim had any surplus equipment to donate, Tait said.
Puerto Ricans’ resilience in overcoming a disaster was “inspiring for us to see,” he said.
“These are Americans and they’re in need, and it seems fitting that we do what we can to help them.”
