The smell from a burnt-out light bulb brought police officers and firefighters to Kresge Hall Tuesday morning and disrupted classes for about 20 minutes, police said.

An employee noticed the burning smell at about 11:35 a.m. and called police, said Sgt. Tim Reuss of University Police.

When Evanston fire department and facilities management officials checked the building, they discovered that the smell came from a bulb that had burned out in a third-floor office, Reuss said. No one was injured and no damage was reported.

The building’s fire alarm was activated after the employee called police, and everyone in the building was sent outside, Reuss said.

Vera Teixeira, a Hispanic studies lecturer who was leading a freshman seminar at the time, said she led her students outside when she heard the fire alarm and continued with her lecture.

“I carried on as if we were still in class, only more informal, of course,” she said.

Medill sophomore Catherine Learned said she was in French class when the alarm went off. Unlike Teixeira, Learned’s teacher chose not to continue outside but to dismiss the class.

“It was kind of nice to get out of class a couple of minutes early,” Learned said.

Classics graduate student Penny Livermore said she was in her office when she heard a very loud alarm. She and the other teaching assistants stayed in the office for a while because the building has had several false alarms in the past, she said.

“We didn’t decide it was time to go until we saw the firemen come in,” Livermore said.