GUILDERLAND — McKownville firefighters will be helping their flooded brethren with a boot drive on Saturday.

“We sent a crew to Schoharie after the flood,” said Jim White, president of the McKownville Fire Department.

Then, last month, a letter to the Enterprise editor from the Schoharie Fire Department inspired McKownville to hold Saturday’s fund-raiser.

Schoharie chief Marty Pierce wrote how more than 275 homes and businesses were damaged by the floods from Tropical Storm Irene in August and roughly 80 percent of the structures in the village were damaged.

“With more than eight feet of water in our fire station, we lost all of our fund-raising equipment, many current and historical records, some gear and equipment, and have since taken refuge in an old, cramped tractor-repair shop not nearly big enough to house all of our apparatus,” Pierce wrote. “Our department is physically and mentally exhausted. Over the past month, our members have helped evacuate our entire village….”

Seeking local funding is not feasible, the chief wrote, as “our community is facing financial exhaustion.” He went on, “Locally, Irene left $30 million in damage in its wake.”

On Dec. 17, from 10 a.m. until noon, members of the McKownville fire department will stand on Fuller Road and Route 20 by Stuyvesant Plaza, with fire boots in hand, to collect donations to send to the Schoharie Fire Department.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer