general problems of the 1998 Ford F-250

The evening of July 26th, 2011 approximately 10:00pm est, an engine fire occurred in our 1998 Ford F-250 truck (ext cab, triton v-8 engine, lariat ed). The F-250 had been parked in a remote parking area on the interior area of the mason county fair grounds. Due to county fair activities during that day, the truck had not been started for over 10 hours when this fire occurred. The local fire department was called and extinguished the fire. It totaled the engine, buckled the hood, blistered the paint, etc. Luckily there was no property damage, nor was there any bodily injury. We had purchased the truck in April of 2010. This truck was in pristine (eat off the engine) condition. Since we have owned it, it had regular oil changes (mobil-1 synthetic only). Aside from that, and other normal maitenance, there had been no modifications to the vehicle, which had stock eqpt when we purchased it. No-off roading, my son babied this truck. He did not even like going to his girlfriend's home with it, because she lived on a dirt road. He is more than just left without a vehicle, he is heartbroken, to say the least. I have checked that there was a police report. 911 was called, but ultimately it is the fire department that made the report. I notified Ford on July 27th, 2011. On July 30th, 2011 I recieved a letter from maria aguilera, product claims legal analyst, Ford's office of general councel in dearborn, mi. We are working to gather information required by her at this time.

While traveling down interstate with cruise on at 70mph, the cruisew ould not turn off with the brake being applied or with the off button, the cruise accelerated and would not turn off until the key was used to turn the motor off with out locking the steering wheel. The first two times this happen it was just that the cruise would not turn off with the brake or off button.