One man was injured Thursday afternoon in a small house fire in Albert Lea.

Brad Combs of New Richland reportedly received burns on his right hand and two fingers of his left hand.

Combs said he was installing a hood vent for an electric range when he went to the garage for a tool at 325 Burr Oak Drive, one block north of Hawthorne Street.

Something told him to go back in the house, he said, and he found cardboard on fire that had been left on the range to protect it. He noted he must have turned on a stove burner accidentally.

When he looked in the kitchen there were flames up to the cupboard, and he attempted to pull off the cardboard, from which he burned his hand.

He then poured five or six bowls of water onto the blaze, before he couldn’t handle the smoke anymore and ran out of the house to call the Albert Lea Fire Department.

The fire was contained to the kitchen.

The home is owned by Bob and Genie Hansen. Combs, their nephew, was doing some handy-man work while they are on vacation.

He was treated by Albert Lea Medical Center crews.