To this day, it protrudes from the rubble like a headstone-or some telltale sex toy.Įveryone had a theory. All that remained was charred concrete, twisted metal, and a rusty two-story archway where the front door would have been. Antoon’s entire crib, however, was pyro’d. Whoever set the fire was a professional: Nobody was injured, the surrounding homes were barely damaged. As her shift ended around 6:30 a.m., the fire department was still extinguishing flare-ups.
“It took a while to control because it was a big place,” explained Caroline Chèvrefils, a police officer on-site that evening. Arriving at the scene, he recalled, “I was devastated.” The conflagration raged all night. Neighbors were being evacuated in their pajamas. In reality, it took up to 80 firefighters to battle the blaze. Driving over, he told me, he kept hoping it would turn out to be something small-maybe just some teenagers messing around. By the time police showed up, the Pornhub Palace was in flames.Īntoon finally woke up when his brother got through on the landline. That said, he can’t help recounting how he lay in bed that night, powerless, two miles from the still-unfinished building, asleep at home with his wife and children, as the company’s security officer alerted 911.
