NEW GLOUCESTER — A Cumberland man burned to death following a two-vehicle crash on Route 26 Tuesday morning, police said.

The driver of the Ford Explorer SUV that was southbound crossed the centerline and struck a box truck nearly head-on around 9:30 a.m. about a mile from the Gray line at the top of a hill, said State Police Lt. Walter Grzyb. The driver of the truck, Frederick L. Capen of Lancaster, Mass. tried to avoid the collision, Grzyb said.

Capen scraped his knee and sprained his thumb and was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where he was treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Police said it may be at least a day before the driver who was killed can be identified by the State Medical Examiner’s Office. No one else was in the SUV.

State Police Sgt. Michael Edes tried but failed to put out the blaze in the SUV by emptying two fire extinguishers from his cruiser into the flames, Grzyb said. Edes used a third fire extinguisher given to him later, but still was unable to rescue the driver from the blaze that eventually burned itself out.

The road was closed into Tuesday afternoon and traffic detoured onto side streets.

A State Police team tried to reconstruct the accident to determine why the SUV would have crossed into the oncoming lane, Grzyb said. He said Capen did nothing to cause the accident.

The road was dry at the time. Police believed the sun may have played a role, but later discounted that theory because it wouldn’t have been high enough at that hour, Grzyb said.

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