The Boston Fire Department extinguished a dumpster fire in Allen’s Alley behind Little Building on Thursday after students smelled smoke in multiple college buildings around 3:30 p.m. No injuries were reported.

The Emerson College Police Department sent a community-wide email at 3:52 p.m. that asked students and faculty to avoid the area while BFD worked to extinguish the fire. ECPD notified the college community at 4:19 p.m. via email that BFD stifled the fire and gave the “all clear” signal.

ECPD Chief Robert Smith and other officers headed toward the alley through an alternate route behind Little Building. But the smoke was too heavy, so they walked back to Boylston Street and traveled down Tremont Street to reach the fire. ECPD contacted the Boston Police Department to notify them that the incident would disrupt traffic during rush hour, Smith said.

“[The fire] was never out of control,” Smith said.

Multiple BFD members stood on the dumpster, dug through debris and extinguished the source of the fire. Little Building construction workers on the scene said they could not speculate on the source of the fire since they were not present in the area when the fire started.

BPD blocked off the intersection at Boylston Street and Tremont Street as three fire trucks lined Tremont Street outside of the alley.

Smoke filled Center Stage around 3:30 p.m. when senior Daniel Gaynor arrived to grab lunch with members of the men’s baseball team.

“I was pretty indifferent [to the smell], but it was very apparent,” Gaynor said. “The grill got shut down, so some of the boys couldn’t get patty-melts.”