When I was a kid my Aunt had a late 70's Granda that used to come out of park. After the first two times this happened, she started setting the park brake.
Of course the one time she forgot to, the engine was running. I was there, and watched my Father, 2 cousins and my uncle take turns trying to get in the car. It was doing circules in the street in revrse.
Ford Ignition Switch fires have been a problem as late as the late 90's. Fords have a bad problem with what is refered to as "wire shrinkage". Where the insulation on the wires over time contracts. Leaving exposed wires at the connectors. This was a major issue on our Ford F-Super Duty wrecker. While it never caught fire, it would fry electronics for the Fuel Injection, Alt, and wiring for the light bar.
I also had a 1988 Escort EXP that started smomking from the dash one night. I found the culpert. The Headlamp switch. It burned the connector to the point I had to splice in a new one. If I had kept driving I would have had a dash fire. Charles