HAMPDEN – Taking cover among the twisted wreckage, they huddled together as cars rained down on them. Thundering sounds from the highway echoed all around as he shielded her from the onslaught, his arms keeping her from collapsing.

The scene may sound like something straight out of the latest hit action movie. Instead, it’s the real-life story of how Heather McLaughlin Humbert found refuge Thursday morning during a freak 50-car pileup on Interstate 95 caused by a combination of fog and black ice.

“This wonderful man helped me out and I don’t even know his name,” Humbert said Thursday night as she recalled how she veered her Nissan pickup off the road when she saw the broken cars ahead, then hit another vehicle before sliding down into the ditch.

When her door wouldn’t open, she panicked and screamed for help. Suddenly her mystery man materialized, pulling her from her truck and leading her to safety.

Twenty-two people were injured – one seriously – during the chain reaction that extended back three miles to the I-95 rest area in Hermon. With personnel from eight towns responding, as well as the Penobscot County Sheriffs Department, the event called into play many of the principles used in the annual mass casualty training run by Bangor International Airport.

The pileup began at around 7:30 a.m., according to State Trooper Thomas Perkins, who said during a news conference that he and another officer had been responding to a vehicle that was off the road.

“I looked in my rear-view mirror and started to watch it happen. From then on it was a chain reaction,” said Perkins.

The area hadn’t been salted, according to Department of Transportation officials, who said ice formed almost instantaneously once the fog rolled in and hit the cold pavement.

“Crews were everywhere, just not in that one particular spot at the time,” said DOT Superintendent Bill Gormely. “This was a freak thing – I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The scene Thursday resembled a war zone, with people walking around looking dazed and cars strewn everywhere. Some were crumpled practically beyond recognition; others appeared undamaged, like toys that had been tossed aside by a cross child.

Humbert wasn’t the only one with stories about the kindness of strangers.

Walter Musson of Newburgh walked up and down the highway, asking if anyone needed to use his cell phone.

“Others were offering their phones, too,” he said. “Soon there was a general camaraderie, with everyone trying to console everyone else. It was like a little gathering; there was a bond with people trying to make the best of a bad situation.”

John Shoum of Newport breathed a sigh of relief as Dale Rowley of Thorndike offered to pull his pickup truck out of the ditch.

“He’s my brother in arms today,” said Shoum, who purposely headed off the highway to avoid hitting another car.

Rowley said he swerved quickly off the road when he saw a car skidding and the highway littered with broken taillights. Not a moment too soon, he said, recalling that a car came in right behind him.

“It just missed me,” said Rowley, a volunteer firefighter who promptly began flagging people, trying to slow them down.

But, “Bam! Bam! Bam!” they plowed right into each other, he said.

“I found a hole and I went for it,” said Gary Stacey of Newburgh, pointing to his vehicle, which had come to a stop in the snow-covered median strip between the north- and southbound lanes.

Her car went this way and that, but Shana Anderson of Corinna finally brought it to a halt. “I made it in between two stopped vehicles,” said Anderson, whose vehicle sustained nothing more than some nicked paint.

Donna Fransen of Hampden wasn’t as lucky. Her little Honda was hit from three sides. “It’s a mess,” she said.

Officials praised the rescue operations. “Everyone knew just what to do without anyone telling them,” said Deputy Sheriff Glenn Ross.

Hospitals were notified by dispatch to expect a large number of people and the mutual aid system was activated, according to Hampden Fire Chief Mike Andersen, who was in charge of the operation.

“The proof is in the pudding, he said. “Within an hour and a half of getting the initial call, the injured were cleared out and transported.”

While reports of injuries fluctuated, Andersen said he was told that everyone injured in the pileup had been released except one man, who had been trying to direct traffic when he was struck by a van, dragged down the road and pinned underneath the vehicle. People lifted the van off him before rescuers arrived, according to the fire chief.