RANGELEY – A Rangeley man, who had a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his face, called 911 for help Thursday as law enforcement agents surrounded his home and tried to talk him out of the house to get him medical assistance.

When Charles L. Brown did stumble out onto the porch, he had his left hand up and his right hand covering his face, which had blood running down it, Rangeley Police Chief Phil Weymouth said.

Brown dropped to his knees, lay down and was handcuffed quickly so paramedics could treat him, Weymouth said.

The skin on the right side of Brown’s jaw area was ripped from his face, he said.

He was taken to a Farmington hospital with serious injuries and then flown to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Weymouth said.

The chief said he was amazed that Brown was still alive.

“He’s one lucky man,” Weymouth said.

According to Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, Brown is under police guard at the Lewiston hospital.

A CMMC spokeswoman said Friday she could neither deny nor confirm Brown was a patient there.

Rangeley police stayed outside the residence as three state fire investigators went into Brown’s house on Summer Road about noon Thursday under the assumption he wasn’t home, Sgt. Joel Davis of from the State Fire Marshal’s Office said Friday.

They had a search warrant for the house and a warrant to arrest Brown on arson charges connected to a fire that destroyed a garage and small apartment on May 3 in Coplin Plantation.

Investigators had been looking for Brown for several days and were in contact with him but couldn’t physically locate him, Weymouth said.

The search warrant was to find information that would lead to Brown’s whereabouts, Davis said.

They knew Brown’s dog was being taken care of by neighbors and thought he was in Oxford County somewhere, Davis said.

When fire investigators made their way into Brown’s home, they heard a shot on the other side of the door, Davis said. Initially they didn’t know who fired the shot or if anyone was hurt.

Investigator Rick Shepard left the house the way they came in, Davis said, but he and Chris Stanford couldn’t go back by the door into the line of fire and ended up coming out the front door.

They determined the shot came from inside the building, Weymouth said, but didn’t know if Brown had fired a warning shot or shot himself.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and the Maine State Police Tactical Team were called to help, along with ambulance crews and firefighters for traffic control.

They tried for two hours to get Brown to come out to get medical attention, Weymouth said. They could see him walking around the house and eventually determined he was hurt.

Weymouth said he got a radio call at 2:15 p.m. from Franklin County dispatcher, Kyle Ellis who asked him to phone in.

Brown had called 911 and was talking to dispatcher Tom Marble.

“The dispatchers did a great job,” Weymouth said.

Brown told Marble he was hurt and needed help, Weymouth said.

He told dispatchers to keep Brown on the phone and instruct him that he needed to come out so they could see his hands, Weymouth said.

Weymouth conveyed his directions to Ellis, and he told them to Marble, who relayed them to Brown.

At one point, they lost contact with Brown but dispatchers could still hear background noises and determined he had dropped the phone, Weymouth said.

Franklin County deputy Sgt. Steve Lowell was hollering to Brown to step out the door, Weymouth said.

Brown finally made it out and surrendered.

“It ended well,” Weymouth said.

Weymouth said Brown repairs used items, including vehicles, and then resells them.

Davis said Brown has a residence in Standish, and it is believed he sells his used cars through a dealership there.

There is a pending arson charge against Brown, he said, and police will be looking into his past and at unsolved arson cases to see if any fit the same mode of operation, which is standard procedure.