FAIRFIELD — No accidents occurred this afternoon when an elderly man traveled six miles the wrong way on Interstate 95, Maine State Police said.

The driver, 74-year-old Larry Ricker of Fairfield, was summonsed on a charge of driving to endanger, according to trooper Rick Moody.

Ricker, driving a Ford pickup truck, told police that he was driving in Clinton when he was distracted by his small dog and mistakenly turned onto the on-ramp for I-95 north, at Exit 138, when he wanted to go south. Ricker continued on anyway, on the shoulder side of the interstate, and then turned onto a crossover so he could take Exit 132 for Fairfield, Moody said.

At about 2:30 p.m., motorists began calling in the wrong-way driver to police, who alerted several area agencies.

“He made it six miles unscathed,” Moody said. “There were no accidents. He knew he was going the wrong way, but he didn’t know how to turn around. He’s very fortunate that an accident didn’t occur.”

Moody said he pulled Ricker over on Lower Ridge Road in Fairfield about 10 minutes after the calls came in.

Almost exactly one month ago, a fire destroyed Ricker’s mobile home and detached garage on Norridgewock Road. Ricker said he had put kerosene-soaked wood in his stove when a fireball ignited and consumed the structure. He and his small dog, Bubba, escaped without injury.