A Dumpster fire occurred near the Natural History Building, 1301 West Green Street, Thursday evening.

A crowd of about 15 people stood and watched as four fire personnel extinguished a fire on the east side of the building.

Lt. Denis Philips of the Urbana Fire Department said firefighters were redirected while en-route to another area and arrived on the scene at 6:55 p.m.

According to Philip Miller, a graduate student, the fire alarm inside the building went off and people left.

“There was basically a fire in the trash can,” Miller said.

Philips was not sure what started the fire. He said he thought it had been caused by the improper disposal of a large can of flammable liquid.

However, Philips said he did not believe arson was involved.

“I think it was an accident,” he said. “There was a large amount of paper in the dumpster.”

He added that the can of flammable liquid was too scorched to identify.

Two fire trucks and two police cars secured the area for the duration of the fire.

By 7:15 p.m., firefighters had fully extinguished the flames.