PROVIDENCE –– There were three house fires in just 12 hours on Tuesday –– leaving more than 30 people homeless in Providence and Central Falls.

As the Rhode Island chapter of the American Red Cross assists with shelter, meals and clothing, the nonprofit organization is looking warily ahead to the winter heating season, when house fires are more likely.

High heating costs may cause people to seek alternative ways to heat their homes, such as space heaters, which can cause fires if used incorrectly or placed too close to combustibles. And, as the economic crisis deepens and foreclosures rise, more families are doubling up in apartments and houses to save money –– which means more people end up homeless from a house fire.

“We’re going up to two- and three-unit buildings, and 20 people are pouring out,” said Red Cross spokeswoman Marisa Albanese.

An overloaded electric box sparked a fire on Gallup Street in Providence on Tuesday morning, sending eight people outside. A worker using a blowtorch inadvertently caused a fire in the walls of a house on Clay Street in Central Falls, leaving six people homeless. In early afternoon, a fire on the first floor of a three-story tenement on Bridgham Street in Providence left 15 adults and three children without a place to live.

The Red Cross spends an average of $1,000 on meals, clothing and shelter for a family of four. For the three fires on Tuesday, the Red Cross spent a total of $5,500, putting all of the residents up in hotels for two nights and offering food and clothing to the residents of Clay and Bridgham streets, whose buildings were extensively damaged by fire.

The Red Cross depends on donations, and the chapter budgeted $165,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1 for assistance. By the end of September, the Red Cross had already spent about $44,000 assisting people left homeless from fires, said Albanese.

“At this rate, we’re asking folks for donations,” she said yesterday.

amilkovi@projo.com