The Madelia Fire Department responded in the early morning hours on Wednesday to a fire that was ripping through the small Minnesota community.

The Madelia fire started with an explosion at a local business at around three a.m.

The Madelia fire quickly ripped through other nearby businesses.

City administrator Jane Piepgras said, “We’re an older community and these businesses share common walls. It went fast.”

She continued, “We had a wonderful business district. It’s going to have a big impact on the community.”

She later added, “Whatever [the businesses] need, we will be here for them. We are a thriving small town community, and this will have a huge impact on us.”

February 2, 2016: a devastating fire destroyed or damaged multiple buildings in my hometown of Madelia, Minnesota – a town of approximately 2,200 people – early this morning. #madeliaminnesota #madelia

A photo posted by allisonhintz (@allisonhintz) on Feb 3, 2016 at 7:33am PST

She also said the city and its residents will do all they can to help the owners of the destroyed businesses. The businesses will be provided with alternative locations.

Madelia is a small, friendly community of about 2,600 people.

Madelia Mayor Mike Grote disclosed that two-thirds of the town’s local downtown businesses were destroyed in the Medelia fire.

He also said that firefighters from surrounding communities helped battle the blaze with temperatures in the teens and that trucks hauling water to Main Street from surrounding areas were struggling with snow and ice on the roads.

Fundraising efforts have already started piling up money to help recovery from the Madelia fire.

A GoFundMe page called “Rebuild Madelia’s Main Street” had raised almost $6000 by Wednesday afternoon.

There is another page called “Krystal and Daniel Rebuild After Fire”, which had raised over $4,000 to rebuild a local Mexican restaurant that was among the damaged businesses.

Hopefully recovery from the Madelia fire will be swift and smooth.