Malcolm Willoughby has one more day to find a home.

If he's unsuccessful, he'll have to check out of his Casper hotel room and hope a friend will take him in. A week before Christmas, in a city with a razor-thin vacancy rate, his prospects don't look good.

"I have no idea what I'm going to do," he said.

Willoughby is one of more than 40 people who've seen their homes or apartment buildings scorched by a series of fires that burned in Casper this week. As of Thursday, 16 families are still without homes and temporarily living in area hotels, said Helen Viera, branch manger for the American Red Cross in Casper.

"For this to happen right before the holiday, and with such devastating losses for the families, this is a very serious situation," she said.

The Red Cross has paid for hotel rooms for the displaced families, but that will only last a matter of days. After that, the newly homeless families will need to find other accommodations.

Viera said she's desperately looking for affordable rental housing for the families.

"Time is running short," she said.

It's unusual to have so many people affected by fire. The Casper Red Cross had only 30 cases for the first 11 months of the year. So far in December, the organization has already had 17.

"Financially it is difficult, but we are doing it," Viera said. "The Red Cross always does it, and we will worry tomorrow about how to pay for it."

The fires began Monday morning when flames burned an apartment building on Ninth and Spruce. That fire, which was caused when someone tried to thaw a frozen pipe with a torch, left 20 people without a home.

Later that day, residents at a home near the intersection of Jefferson and H streets also required help from the Red Cross when their home caught fire.

Eleven more people lost their homes Wednesday when a fire gutted an apartment building near the intersection of Walnut and 11th streets. The cause of that fire remains under investigation.

The same night, a home east of Casper burned to the ground.

Justin Smith, a fire prevention officer with Casper Fire-EMS, can't recall another situation like this.

"Once those benefits run out, these people are faced with homelessness if they don't have family or friends in the area who can put them up for awhile," he said.

Willoughby is one of those people. He lived in the West Ninth Street apartment building that burned Monday. Although his apartment wasn't damaged, he couldn't remain there because the building's utilities were shut off.

Later that day, the landlord told Willoughby he planned to tear down the building and the tenants would have to find another place to live. The landlord was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Since the fire, Willoughby has been staying at the Parkway Plaza. The Red Cross gave him the room, but he'll have to leave by Saturday and find another place to go.

Right now, he's not sure where that will be.

"It is a week before Christmas, and we got 20 people living in hotel rooms because of a fire," he said. "It's really dramatic because it is close to the holiday and people lost their places to live."

Reach crime reporter Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@trib.com.

How to help

To assist victims of this week's fires, contact the American Red Cross at (307) 237-8436 or visit the Casper office at 318 W. B St. The organization is accepting financial donations or gift certificates. The Red Cross is also seeking referrals for available and reasonably priced rental housing.

Investigation continues

The Wednesday fire that burned an apartment building on Walnut and 11th streets remains under investigation, and Casper and Natrona County firefighters, along with Casper police, have been involved. A dog that can detect ignitable liquids was also used as part of the investigation, according to Casper Fire-EMS. The fire left 11 people without homes.