Heard on WWL that the police were asked about one of the fires...they said they chased people out of the building as firefighters arrived and "they didn't look like sales clerks."
this follows the pattern, and we had it all around the USA in the 1960s, 1970s and 1990s. Loot what you can take. Torch what you cannot. I think that is what may be happening. These animals can see the sky and know their days are limited as they won't be allowed to stay in NO, and they cannot take along what they stole earlier in the week.
Most of the fires are apparently being caused by breakdowns in the electrical and natural gas distribution systems in the city. Natural gas fires are extremely dangerous since they can spread wildly through piping systems and flare up with little notice.