VILLAGE OF OVID, N.Y. (WENY) -- The Village of Ovid is working to pick up the pieces after a devastating fire ripped through part of the village back in January.  More than 57 departments from around New York State responded to battle the blaze, and the Ovid fire chief said the rebuilding process could start as early as this month.

Fire officials say a charging device sparked the fire from an apartment above the Big M grocery store on January 21st.  The buildings on Main Street from the Big M to the Italian Kitchen were destroyed and needed to be demolished.  Since then, the Ovid fire relief fund has raised over $170,000 and helped 65 people get back on their feet after the blaze.  Officials say community support has been key in helping the area recover and move forward.

"We are where we are though because of the people who care about Ovid," said Ovid Fire Chief Timothy Westlake.  "Not only the individuals in the community that we serve, but to those who do not even live here that have shown their grace in helping out. Whether it be financially to the Ovid Fire Department, financially to the Ovid relief fund, or just helping out by sending things our way."

Clean-up of the site on Main Street is set to begin in mid-April.  However, Chief Westlake says no decisions on next steps will be made until clean-up and any environmental concerns are addressed.

"It hurts every time you look at it," said Chief Westlake.  "But I'm really not going to take that breath of relief until it's cleaned up, when we know what the results are of all the testing and now we can move forward. That's, I think, when we'll take that sigh of relief and, say okay, now we can rebuild."

Chief Westlake says the village is focused on getting a grocery store back in the community.  NextEra Energy donated $10,000 to support the fire department and fire relief funds on Wednesday.

"Giving any form of a donation to something as tragic as this is really beneficial," said Alex Wallace, a senior project manager with NextEra Energy.  "The people here in the town greatly need it... and anything counts when it comes to giving towards a cause like this."

The Ovid Federated Church is collecting donations for the fire relief fund.  They can be found here.