A fire authority is facing a £400,000 shortfall from its insurers in replacing fire engines and vehicles damaged in the floods.

East Sussex Fire Brigade lost three major fire appliances, the Operational Support Unit and eight light vehicles in the floods because of water damage as firefighters battled to save the county from flooding.

Although the insurers have written off the vehicles and will pay the brigade their current value, this will not meet the cost of replacement vehicles.

David Izod, spokesman for East Sussex Fire Brigade, said: "If you write off a fire engine it costs £130,000 for a new one but they give the value of the fire engine.

"They should have a life of 14 years but if it is only seven years into its life then you will only receive £60,000."

Mr Izod said the fire brigade had taken steps during past years to ensure it had the most robust insurance available and the shortfall could not be avoided.

He said: "We are not going to get anything like the cost to buy new ones and there is not a very big secondhand market in fire engines.

"There is always a price to pay but at least nobody died and nobody was seriously injured."

The fire authority met last week to discuss the costs of the flood but a final bill will not be drawn up until next year.

The brigade is considering applying to the Government's Bellwin Scheme to meet some of the costs, but any application must be made through East Sussex County Council or Brighton and Hove Council.

The scheme can make payments when a local authority has to spend significantly above its normal budget because of extreme circumstances such as floods, tornadoes and hurricanes.

If the authority spends two per cent above its budget a claim can be made to meet 80 per cent of the additional costs.

Mr Izod said: "Negotiations are being undertaken to find out what the position of the combined authority is as to whether a claim can be made to the Bellwin Scheme or do our authorities have to claim on our behalf.

"Only as a last resort would the brigade go to the combined authorities to ask for more money, there are many avenues to explore before they go there."