A major donation is helping the Ovid community recover after a massive fire in January destroyed much of Main Street.

More than 60 people were displaced and many are still working to get back on their feet.

“They’re still looking for employment [and] many still need housing," Fire Chief Tim Westlake said. "They lost clothing and items you need to survive. All those had to be replaced."

In the aftermath of the fire, the Ovid Fire Relief Fund was created. 

Since then, $170,000 has been donated to the victims.

"A lot of the big support we got was from people who visited, or they grew up here but moved away but still love OVID and wanted to take care of the people here," Westlake said.

That help will continue.

On Wednesday, Next Era Energy presented the fire department with $10,000 to be split with the relief fund. 

Next Era Energy Manager Alex Wallace says seeing the damage in person was an emotional experience.

“A little surreal seeing the devastation and hearing what they went through that night with the cold temperatures and how they were dealing with that," Wallace said. 

Westlake says cleanup on the site is expected to start later this month. He believes it will be a turning point for the community to start healing.

"It hurts every time you look at it, but I’m not going to take a breath of relief until it’s cleaned up," Westlake said. "That’s when we can take that sigh of relief and feel, now, we can move forward.” 

The fire also destroyed the town’s only grocery store.

Westlake says once cleanup is finished, work will start on bringing a new one to the community.