A man suffered minor burns to his face yesterday while fighting a storage-shed fire on the eighth floor of a Punchbowl apartment building.

The man and his roommate were in the apartment at 1554 Green St. when they heard an explosion on their lanai shortly after 3 p.m. They saw that a plastic storage shed there was on fire.

The two pulled the fire alarm and grabbed an extinguisher and hose to fight the blaze, said fire department spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig. The men were able to extinguish the fire before firefighters arrived, he said.

One of the men suffered first-degree burns to one side of his face and was treated at the scene, Seelig said.

The fire investigator said the blaze began in the shed, which contained athletic equipment, cleaning supplies, small propane tanks and spray cans. The fire did about $2,000 in damage, Seelig said.