What Should the Penalty be for Looting During a Wildfire Evacuation?

in fire •  6 years ago  (edited)

Thousands of square miles are burning out of control in California and as of today are only about 20% contained. This fire is so bad, the President has declared it a State of Emergency situation which is a serious level of resource commitment from the United States Government.
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This fire has burned multiple homes, displaced thousands of families and have put many Americans in a vulnerable state with regards to income to live on while having to leave jobs and neighborhoods. Through all this pain, can you believe criminals are actually breaching security perimeters to steal property from houses that have not burned yet but the entire neighborhood is vacant? What kind of person could do this to someone who is already facing an enormous hardship? There are many laws that get broken everyday but it sure seems that the penalties for this type of gutless crime should be ultra stiff because nobody has a chance to protect their property.
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Homeowners invest big money into protecting valuables so that if a fire rages out of control near their home, they at least have SOMETHING to help get their life back together. The fact that someone would steal from a person who has been forced to leave is cowardly to the core. What should the punishment be if you get caught doing something like this?
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The picture about is from a few years ago when my state of Colorado was on fire in several places. This particular picture is of the Waldo Canyon fire which is one of the worst fires in Colorado History. Colorado is a very dry state with no humidity so the Forrest can become like dry kindling very fast. Right this very second fires are burning in Colorado in Several places. It’s not a State of Emergency like California but the situation is serious enough to import firefighters from all over the country to help fight the wildfire. Prayers are needed for everyone around the world who’s homes are in danger and families displaced, and God bless the brave firefighters who risk their life to stop this for the rest of us.

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That's so horrifying to behold those forest fires and it even burned the entire village. Everybody who was affected by this tragic event surely in a desperate situation and in real need but sad to say that there are still people who are taking advantage of the situation stealing others property. :(

dam that's crazy i didn't even hear about it. Prob cause i don't watch TV. I wish the people the best of luck and hopefully the worst is over.

Some things are not forgivable. DelibRelate cruelty is never forgivable.
This is a very horrifying . Feeling so sorry.

That is a good question about what should the punishment be. Sadly, this has to be one crime that would be near impossible to stop.

This is a very sad news @broncnutz

It's very big problem in all world . It is still question who can do this bad act ? Every year big amount of wilds damaged by fire .

Well if they go to prison then it'd be recycling, considering a lot of those firefighters are inmates.

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People that take advantage of the desperate in this way should get much more stiff punishment. The question is, if perhaps some of this fire was internationally lit by the very same people that stole property, the same way that happened in Greece.

exactly

Really you are geving a very good news sharing with us " thank you for this valuable post.

Thanks for sharing @broncnutz
It is really touching to be displaced by wildfire. Laws should be implemented to curd this incident from occurring and to save lives. Firefighter stations should be built around the areas in Colorado so that they can easily be accessed when fire incident occur.

Marauding must be punished according to the strictest laws.

People are burning up, people are burning up, people are taking advantage of their compulsion to loot them, how much wrong is done, people who loot money should be given death sentence immediately, God too will do too much dirty work He will not forgive those people who are already dying in the kill again.

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woo amigo esto es un delito grave es muy horrible mirar algo asi no tiene comparacion con nada.

The sad thing is the looters are probably going to get away free, because police are too busy dealing with the immediate threat and its aftermath...

Looting is punishable by the Law... but if the law maker is not insane, looting in the event of wild fire should be excluded.

Wow its realy breaking news...greet post

People who take advantage of the desperate in this way should be punished

I think looters should be shot on the spot

  ·  6 years ago (edited)

So sad news my best friend . your post is very important.i like it your post. Thank you so much .Your posts are extremely expensive and extremely respectable to your posts, I respect and thank you for trying to comment.

So sad news. I condem these type of looting. It is so sad when people a burning and some peiple thinking for looting. So sad.

This is such a sad and bad news.I don't know why people don't care for other's.selfishness ends when you do like this.people who are already harmed by fire and hopeless.inspite of helping them people use these kind of bad deeds.such a horrible and sad situation.

Sad news and the one who profits from another's grief must be punished to the maximum! Thank you @broncnutz

Its very sad news....

  ·  6 years ago (edited)

People who loot during national emergencies like fires, storms, cyclones, hurricanes and any other event which displaces people from their homes are absolute scum. Fortunately, in many US states they treat looting a little more seriously than some others.

In California looting is punishable by one year in prison and a minimum of six months in jail. So if you loot in California, you have to serve 180 days in jail even if you get probation. It gets worse in Louisiana where you can get a maximum fine of up to $10,000 and a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. Lawmakers did this because of the bad looting during Hurricane Katrina.

More US states need to adopt similar harsh punishments for looting during natural disasters like Louisiana did.

Put them in line like they do it in China...

WE can't even imagine something like this, but there are some people who just don't care about others and they take benefit of this kinda situation. I hope this fire will be controlled soon and the Government should take some good step to make this place like before.

  ·  6 years ago (edited)

Yes.. I've seen footage of looting from various crisis throughout history.
It's the dark side of human nature...but I think stiff laws should prevent this occurrence much more.. like canning ! (ahem....)... and years in prisons of course.

with camera tech these days, looters that are caught on camera should be able to be spotted and recognized and brought to justice

Ohh! Very sad news..

This is not the only incident that happened like this, there were some cases like this in Scotland and England too.
May God bless us

oh my god! that's the scariest nightmare i can imagine so far. feel really bad for those families.

Wow!!!!! That has to be close to the top of the worst things a crook can do. WTF?? Sometimes you
are stuck wondering where the hell the world is going. Not in a good direction when you have clowns like this running around.

I suppose being burned at the stake would be considered "cruel and unusual punishment," although it would certainly fit the crime.

i just can't even imagine the situation there this is getting out of hands every year this is becoming a major problem

Life should be saved and government should provide some consultation money to thr affected citizens. It is a huge lose but maybe that money could help somehow.

There is a saying in our country here in my place that;

It is better to get robbed than to get a fire (with our homes"

Obviously because if we get a fire almost noting will get left for us, it is a sorry sad sight. @broncnutz

Very good thing I like it

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Theft was once met with the removal of hands. I would be happy with just the removal of thumbs. Future theft would be greatly hindered. And for others their shame would be widely known.