I've always heard that Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter could start fires using only his eyes — it's one of those Canadian things, Bonnie Fuller can do it too. While we're on the topic of suspicious fires, a reader reminds us of Graydon-related Conde Nast fires of yesteryear:

A couple of years ago, the girls in the Vanity Fair fashion closet started a fire at 4 Times Square by tossing a cigarette in a garbage can. The resulting water damage ruined the Brides offices on the floor below and even came pouring into the Self offices two floors below (where the yellow streaks down the walls are still evidence of the VF treachery). I'm pretty sure Graydon and the girls are still on probation with the fire marshal. Come to think of it, maybe that's the reason he's such a target of the ashtray police. Conspiracy my ass! It's his own damned fault!

Now, according to the current Conde Nast stacking plan, this would be tricky: the smaller VF offices on the seventh floor are above the Conde Nast Bridal Group, which is above Gourmet and next to Self on five. But the point remains. And regarding the source of the fire, a rumor — true or wildly untrue — lives on at Conde Nast, according to a reader:

Regarding the Vanity Fair fire, this is really old news, but everyone at Conde Nast knows (or so the rumor goes) that the fire was started by Patricia Lansing [daughter of designer Carolina Herrera], back when she worked there. She was smoking in the closet, started a fire, and then blamed an intern...who was, of course, fired.