In an NBC News story titled “LA officials say looters targeting vulnerable communities will be held accountable” there’s a pic that is not in the public domain so National Zero can’t just steal it and re-paste it here because publishing rights and all that shit. The photo depicts the charred remains of the Town and Country Liquor store on North Fair Oaks Ave in suburban Altadena, one of no doubt hundreds of retail stores that have been burned to the ground in the area over the last 48 hours.

There’s no reason given why that particular photo was chosen to illustrate an article about officials warning locals against looting, but it’s not hard to infer it’s because the store could have been – or actually was – a target of opportunistic looters before the burning roof collapsed and destroyed all the goods inside. The thing is, should anyone actually give a shit if someone bashed in the window and made off with a few bottles of mezcal, provided it was obvious that the store was a goner?

This wasn’t an earthquake where people making off with salvageable products after the fact is clearly looting. It’s not a riot where looting is basically the whole point. It’s not the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina where the photos of a Black dude making off with cases of bottled water were captioned “looter” while a white guy carrying a TV he stole from a Best Buy was a “survivor foraging for vital supplies” or whatever. It’s just that the booze is no good to anyone when it’s about to burn so if there’s no question whether a particular establishment is doomed then maybe it’s stupid to prosecute a guy caught stealing mezcal from a liquor store that’s already on fire or will be very soon.

Now this isn’t to say bashing in the windows of the Best Buy and stealing shit half mile away from a raging fire blowing in another direction is okay. It isn’t. It’s especially wrong and stupid to try to steal from people’s homes if they’re in the path of a fire. What’s the best you’re going to get in any random house, a Playstation? An iPad you don’t even know the password to? Expensive sneakers two sizes too small? And if it’s afterward then what the hell do you expect to find in the ashes?

But again, if a retail store is burning or will imminently, then it should be open season on whatever’s inside. If peoples’ safety is a part of the concern, then Los Angeles’s policy on looting should be like Florida’s for staying put during major hurricanes: Don’t expect rescue if you’re able to get out of the storm’s way and won’t. If free mezcal is a risk worth getting trapped and burned to death for then your life simply ain’t worth the risk for a firefighter or cop. Let them worry about helping the people who are actually trying to escape the danger, or better yet can’t – the sick, elderly, or disabled.