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Narrative 98-287 On Tuesday, 06/23/98 at 2140 Hrs the Escalon Fire Department responded to the report of a Grass Fire south of the Stanislaus River near Jacob Myers Park. Upon arrival the fire was located on the vacant lot at 23023 Santa Fe. The fire was contained to a large pile of dry grass, trash, tree stumps old vehicle wheels and lumber. All of the material had been pushed into the pile with the use of a tractor or front loader. Due to the pile also being filled with dirt the fire was hard to access and extinguish. It should be noted this is the third similar occurrence on the same property and the same pile since 06/06/98. Each time the Fire Department found the same type of illegal material burning with no one in attendance. The lot is covered with dry weeds and trash however it is unknown if the items burned were on the property prior or brought to the property to be burn. During the second incident on 06/06/98 I contacted the property owner, Bill Lane at the scene. Lane told me that he did not know how the fire was started but he wanted the Fire Dept to " Just let it burn . He then said he heard from someone that the occupants of a unknown make small red car had set the fire and fled the area. Over the past several years I have contacted Lane on other illegal fires on his property and he regularly says the fire was started by unknown people but always requests the fire be allowed to burn. Although there is no actual proof that Lane is either personally starting the fire or directing someone to start them it is my opinion that he is directly involved. Other pieces of property owned by lane have had the same type of illegal burns in the past several years. A copy of this report will be sent to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office and the San Joaquin County Fire Wardens Office. NFI