A fire that started in a trash can and spread to an adjoining bulletin board in Adams House's C entry forced the evacuation of many students early Sunday morning.

Several minutes after 3 a.m., an Adams resident discovered the fire and pulled the fire alarm, said the student, who requested anonymity.

Armed with fire extinguishers, a small group of residents put the fire out before the fire department arrived on the scene, said Imraan Coovadia '92, who helped put out the blaze. There were no injuries, students said.

He said the "fire was big, it just wasn't very dramatic."

Several residents said they did not take the alarm seriously at first since Adams has been the scene of several false alarms during the past two weeks.

James J. Marino '91 said he "thought [the alarm] was a fluke." until he went out his suite's front door and saw the smoke. He then had to escape through a fire door. "It was easy to tell it was no joke," he said.

Some residents who believed the alarm was a fake did not leave their rooms at first, students said. Others near the fire said that the thick smoke and loud alarms disoriented them.

After the fire was extinguished, the drifting smoke continued to set off smoke detectors, keeping residents up all night.

"They'll leave the building more quickly next time," Coovadia said. "The people will take it more seriously now."

House and fire department officials could not be reached for comment about the fire yesterday.