More than $260,000 has been distributed to the dozens of survivors of a Lowell apartment building fire that claimed seven lives.

A fund for the survivors was established at a city credit union soon after the July 10 blaze that was ruled accidental.

Officials with Community Teamwork Inc., which helped distribute the money, tell The Lowell Sun that the funds were given to the nearly 50 survivors in the form of debit cards over a period of weeks, which they could use as they wished. The fund also paid for utility bills at the destroyed building, and for other necessities including hotel rooms, driver’s license replacements and immigration documents replacements.

The fund will close on Sept. 30, at which point anything left will be distributed to the victims.