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Members of Coldstream Fire Rescue will be giving motorists the boot today.

Volunteers with department will be conducting the annual Boot Drive from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Firefighters will be collecting donations at Kalamalka Road and College Way, and on Middleton Way near the District’s boundary.

They will be manning a 'road block' – which is actually just volunteers standing in the middle of the road holding out a firefighter's boot that people can put their donations in.

In previous years, money raised would go toward the fire department's Halloween fireworks show, but this year the money is destined for those impacted by the summer's wildfires.

Fire Chief Dave Sturgeon said the money will go to people in the 150 Mile House area, where some of the Coldstream firefighters served in recent weeks.

“We got to know the volunteers from that area. Some of them lost their homes while volunteering to help feed firefighters,” said Sturgeon.

Normally, the firefighters would be collecting donations in early October for the fireworks, but the Kalamalka Lake Pier on Kal Beach was damaged by the spring flood waters, and last month the District of Coldstream announced it would not re-open this year.

Sturgeon said the fire department could have made adjustments and held the fireworks show in a different location, but given the devastation so many people faced in the Cariboo region, it was decided to raise money for fire relief.