Numerous families are receiving assistance from the Red Cross after multiple fires across the area.

Homicide detectives were brought in for one of them.

That involved a vehicle fire on Wilson Ave. in Northwest Atlanta, a person inside had suffered multiple gunshot wounds. There is no word on suspects in that incident.

And a family narrowly escaped an overnight Sunday night fire that gutted a home on Redding Road in Brookhaven. Dekalb Fire Captain Jaeson Daniels said fires are especially tough around the holidays.

A house fire on West Fayetteville Road in Clayton County claimed the life of an elderly woman and sent a man to the hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and burns to the hands.

Also eight units were damaged at the Archway Apartments in Riverdale.

The National Fire Protection Association estimates about 30 percent of all home fires happen during the winter months.