LEWISTON – A Bates College student and a visitor were arrested Thursday, charged with setting a fire near the campus pond.

A fire investigator said the blaze was set near Andrews Pond where landscaping work was under way. The suspects found a canister of gasoline and poured it on the pavement.

Flames quickly spread to a pile of mulch that caught fire, according to Fire Investigator Paul Ouellette. Police said the canister was then hurled into the flames, which also spread to a pile of signs.

No one was hurt in the blaze.

Firefighters called to the campus at about 2 p.m. made quick work of the fire. Ouellette and Lewiston police officer Tom Murphy began speaking to students and others who were in the area.

Within an hour, the suspects were arrested.

Edmund Antell, a first-year student and 19-year-old member of the Bates track team, was charged with arson.

Also charged was Kyle Pickard, 19, who had been visiting Antell at the school.

Both men were taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn where they were booked and later released.

Antell is from Sherborn, Mass., and is a member of the Bates Class of 2011, according to the school directory. Pickard is from a college in another state.

Antell could not be located for comment on Friday. A Bates spokesman said Antell was no longer in the area.

“The school year just ended, and the arrested student was asked to leave the campus. He has done so,” said Media Relations Director Bryan McNulty. “If he returns in the fall, he will be subject to review by student judiciary, independent of state criminal charges.”

McNulty said there was no monetary loss to college property as a result of the fire, although a 5-foot square of pavement near the pond was scorched.

The blaze remained under investigation by the Lewiston police and fire departments.