Looters a sad reality

Photo: The Canadian Press

A wildfire burns behind a home on the Ashcroft First Nation.

As if the risk of losing their homes isn't enough, wildfire evacuees have faced the additional threat of looters searching through their belongings after they rushed to safety.

Rob Gordon, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, says looting is an unfortunate but routine part of virtually every natural disaster, from fires to floods, hurricanes to earthquakes.

"It's predatory behaviour of the worst kind," Gordon said, adding that looters are opportunists.

"There is nothing especially organized. People just see a chance to make off with somebody else's possessions, and they'll do it if they can get away with it."

RCMP say they have arrested a half-dozen people accused of exploiting the disaster over the past week.

Emergency officials have ordered thousands of residents to lock up and leave since the province declared a state of emergency on July 7 after hundreds of fires started across B.C.'s Central and Southern Interior.

Gordon said looters are often locals who have had an eye on a particular house or business. Besides cash, the most likely items to be stolen are typically small, portable and easy to resell, such as electronics, jewelry and guns, he said.

"There's a market in firearms," he explained. "And they're, generally speaking, quite easy to move."