Red Cross helps communities stay safe during power outages As thousands remain without power in Central Virginia, the Red Cross has continued to respond to house fires and trees into homes, displacing people. (Source: Red Cross Virginia) By Jasmine Turner | February 15, 2021 at 3:29 PM EST - Updated February 15 at 5:15 PM RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - As thousands remain without power in Central Virginia, the Red Cross has continued to respond to house fires and trees into homes, displacing people. “What we are seeing is more people are using space heaters, they are leveraging generators and what we see in these events, people bring those into their homes and they may not have used them for an extended period of time,” said Jonathan McNamara with the Red Cross. “We’re also responding to a noticeable increase in fires across the area this weekend. On top of that, we have had trees going onto homes that Red Cross volunteers are responding to.”