POLAND – Robert Evans had the worst – and best – luck on his drive home this week.

When the axle on his pickup truck snapped on Route 11, the vehicle lurched into a ditch, flew through the air, flipped and landed on its roof, pinning Evans.

“I was trapped,” he said Thursday, a day after the accident. “I couldn’t get out.”

The roof had crushed the door shut.

That’s when the 38-year-old Casco man’s luck changed.

Jan Jordan, who owns a day care at her home near the accident scene, heard the crash and called 911, Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Deputy Dennis Sampson said.

Her husband, Larry Jordan, called her from the road to ask what was holding up traffic. He was on his way from work for a rare lunch at home. She told him about the accident and said he should hurry.

“I said, just get down here,” Jan Jordan said.

He did, by driving in the unoccupied lane to get to the crash site.

Jan Jordan had gone to the truck and talked to Evans through a hole in the windshield.

She was asking Evans if he was hurt. Could he move?

He could see and hear wires arcing, starting to smolder, he said. Smoke started filling the cab. He was lying across the seat. He managed to get his face out of the passenger side window to breathe fresh air.

A motorist following Evans had stopped to help. Jan Jordan got a fire extinguisher from her nearby home and gave it to George Mason, 63, of Poland. He sprayed the flames to keep them in check, Sampson said.

When Larry Jordan got home, he ran to the truck and tried to force open the passenger door. At one point, he was on top of the burning truck but still unable to free Evans.

He ran to get a pry bar. When he returned, he and passing motorist, Brian Ruel, 41, of Gorham, N.H., worked together. They managed to pry open the door, get Evans out of his seat belt and drag him to safety, Sampson said.

Shortly after, flames engulfed the cab.

“It happened so fast,” said Jan Jordan. “It was seconds after they got him out that it went up if flames. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever gone through.”

The good fortune of having help so nearby and the timing of the rescue were not lost on Evans.

“If it wasn’t for the gentleman who lives right there, I wouldn’t be here now,” he said. “He saved my life. No doubt about it.”

Another passing motorist, John Kohtala, 46, of Poland stopped and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the pickup truck he was driving and ran to the scene. He emptied its contents on the burning wreck, Sampson said.

In all, three fire extinguishers were used to help keep the blaze under control, Sampson said.

Evans was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where he was treated for scrapes, cuts and bruises, then released.

His father drove him home. But they made a stop along the way.

They pulled into the driveway of the couple whose names he still didn’t know. The woman came out of her house and gave him a big hug, he said. She said she had been thinking about him since his ordeal.

Evans said he thanked Larry Jordan, telling him if it wasn’t for him he wouldn’t be standing there.

Evans figures luck runs in the family. His son by the same name had been staying with a friend at a house in Bridgton. On Sunday, three days before Evans’ near-death experience, the house in Bridgton exploded. His son had been sitting outside the building at the time.

Jan Jordan thinks it might be more than luck. After all, her husband is not normally in the area at that time of day. On a typical day, he would not have been there to help.

“It was all fate, is what I believe,” she said.

While there were plenty of heroes on Wednesday, Jan Jordan also noted that there were also several people who chose not to help – drivers and passengers in roughly 20 cars lined up in both directions remained where they were while the truck burned with Evans trapped inside.

“I was running up the road screaming for help,” Jordan said. “They just sat in their cars. They wouldn’t get out. It made me very angry.”

“It’s important for people to stop and help when they can,” she said. “You have to put your fear aside. You have to step up.”

The bottom line though, is that Evans was alive and healthy enough to talk about the ordeal a day after he was saved. There were horrifying moments when Jan Jordan did not believe he would be around at all.

“He’s all right,” she said. “And that’s just awesome.”

Staff writer Mark LaFlamme contributed to this report.