BROOKLYN — Students taking their Regents Exams were evacuated from a Boerum Hill school campus Wednesday afternoon after a fire broke out in the auditorium, witnesses and officials said.
The flames started on the stage of the school venue at the 345 Dean St. building, located between Third and Fourth avenues, about 1 p.m., an FDNY spokesman said.
"The fire bell went off. No one knew where it was, but we all exited anyway," said teacher Linda Littlefield, 54, of Greenwood.
Smoke filled auditorium and the floor above, witnesses and officials said.
"Dark smoke [was] coming out of the windos," said parent Helen Salazar, 44, who was dropping off her daughter for a math Regents Exam about 1:15 p.m.
It wasn't immediately clear how many people were evacuated.
About 30 teachers and students were waiting on the sidewalk about 2:30 p.m.
The campus houses both the Brooklyn High School for the Arts, which enrolls 844 students, and the Math and Science Exploratory School, a middle school of 516 students, according to the Department of Education.
Firefighters brought the flames under control about 1:45 p.m., a spokesman said.
No injuries were reported, FDNY officials said.
Fire marshals were investigating the fire's cause, officials said.